LAHORE:The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday declared the arrest of Sindh Assembly opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh as illegal and ordered his immediate release.
Justice Ali Baqir Najafi issued a five-page written verdict. The court also approved his protective bail by 18th July and ruled that no letter was produced in court regarding the arrest of Haleem Sheikh.
According to the verdict issued by Justice Ali Baqir Najafi, it is a fact that the case against Haleem Adil Sheikh was registered at 7:30 and no notification was submitted before the court to appoint an investigating officer to investigate the case by the anti-corruption.
While the records were submitted by the Anti-corruption showed that no authority has issued an arrest warrant for Haleem Adil’s arrest. The verdict further stated that anti-corruption said that Haleem Adil Sheikh was arrested at noon today while Haleem said in his statement that he was arrested at 3am.
Today, a petition filed in the LHC stated that Haleem was whisked away early this morning by men in plain clothes from a hotel in Lahore. The petition was filed by Mr Adil’s personal secretary Muhammad Farhan. The Punjab IG police and others were made respondents in the petition.
The petition stated that some men wearing plain clothes took away Haleem Adil. Police were contacted in this regard, but still the whereabouts of the SA opposition leader have not been disclosed, the petition added.
The petition further stated that despite a lapse of several hours, Mr Adil had not been produced yet before any court. The Lahore High Court is requested to pass an order for the appearance of the PTI leader before a court, the plea added.
Earlier, the police arrested PTI Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh from Lahore in the wee hours of Wednesday. Haleem Adil came to Lahore yesterday and was staying in a hotel. Some officials in plain clothes entered the hotel and took him away with them. He has been shifted to some unknown place.
The CCTV footage of PTI leader Mr Adil being arrested by plain-clothed officials also surfaced. It could be seen in the footage that the MPA did not put up any resistance and went with the men. His wife Dua Bhutto and daughter Ayesha Haleem confirmed his arrest through their tweets. Daughter Ayesha wrote in her tweet that her father was a member of Sindh Assembly and he could not be detained without the permission of the SA speaker.