Pakistan: Rawalpindi Court Sends PTI Vice Chairman SM Qureshi to 14 Day Judicial Custody

A Rawalpindi Court on Thursday ordered a 14-day judicial remand for Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Vice Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), in a new case related to the May 9 riots.

The court dismissed the plea of the Punjab Police seeking custody of the former Pakistan minister.

This development followed a day after Qureshi was allegedly manhandled and re-arrested outside Adiala Jail in connection with the May 9 attack on the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi. Widespread protests had erupted across the country after the arrest of ex-premier Imran Khan.

Media reports indicated that the PTI leader was implicated in a dozen similar cases. Qureshi had been released from Adiala Jail on Wednesday after the Supreme Court approved his post-arrest bail in the cypher case. However, the PTI leader, attempting to communicate with the Punjab police, was pushed and taken away from the prison. He was initially taken to the Cantt police station, where he was reportedly mistreated.

Qureshi appeared before the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Syed Jahangir Ali on Thursday. PTI shared a video on social media condemning the police action of keeping Qureshi handcuffed.

“Shah Mehmood Qureshi has been in politics for 40 years, represented Pakistan twice around the world as the foreign minister, served as a parliamentary leader, and is the vice chairman of Pakistan’s largest political party. Bringing Shah Sahib to court with handcuffs is a very shameful act – even this time may pass, but history and the people of Pakistan will never forget the faces involved in these heinous actions,” PTI posted on social media.

“Shah Mehmood Qureshi left the courtroom after being judicial and made a sign of victory; the slogans of the lawyers were ‘Who will save Pakistan, Imran Khan, Imran Khan, Agli Wari Phir Niazi,'” it added in a subsequent post.

Qureshi alleged that police officials had “kicked and ridiculed” him, claiming that he wasn’t taken to a doctor despite chest pains, as reported by Dawn.

“A team came to me saying that they wanted to record a statement on the May 9 violence. These people want to nominate me in cases related to May 9,” he said. “I was in Karachi on May 9…my wife was undergoing surgery (that day).”

The PTI vice chairman also alleged that he was kept in a cold cell overnight and wasn’t allowed to sleep. “I was tortured mentally and physically,” he claimed.