EX-PAK FOREIGN MINISTER SHAH MAHMOOD QURESHI DETAINED

Sat 19 August 2023:

Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the leader of the opposition in Pakistan, was taken into custody on Saturday, according to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, just hours after he announced legal action if the election was delayed.

Party spokesperson Zulfi Bukhari told Reuters the specific reason for the detention of Qureshi, twice Pakistan’s foreign minister, was not immediately clear. The caretaker information minister did not respond to a request for comment.

The first information report (FIR) registered against Qureshi by the FIA refers to the matter and invokes Sections 5 (wrongful communication of information) and 9 (attempt to commit or abet the commission of an offence under this Secrets Act) of the Official Secrets Act read with Section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

Interim Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti confirmed Qureshi’s arrest on Geo News show Naya Pakistan, saying that the former foreign minister would soon be presented in the court.

“We have to enforce the law and all those nominated in the cipher case will be arrested and presented in court, he said.”

When asked whether Qureshi’s detention was linked to a press conference he held right before his arrest and where he confirmed that he had held meetings with foreign envoys in recent days, Bugti replied in the negative.

The election commission said on Thursday that new constituencies would be finalised by 14 December, state television reported. After that, the commission will confirm an election date.

Electoral experts have suggested the process could push the nationwide vote back several months, possibly until February.

“It will be unconstitutional if the 90 days deadline is breached,” Qureshi, who has led the PTI party following Khan’s arrest, told a press conference. He said the party planned to contest any delay at the supreme court.

Political analysts say that if the current caretaker set-up stretches beyond its constitutional tenure, a prolonged period without an elected government would allow the military, which ruled the country directly for more than three decades of its 76-year existence, to consolidate control.

Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, a little-known politician who is believed to be close to the military, was sworn in as prime minister on Monday.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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