Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan's former foreign minister and deputy chairman of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Justice Movement, PTI) party, was arrested Thursday for inciting and organizing protests, which have continued in the country for the third consecutive day. This was reported by the PTI press office.
"Police in Islamabad have just arrested Shah Mahmood Qureshi, taking him from the Gilgit-Baltistan region office in Islamabad," the party said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Geo-TV quoted sources as saying that Qureshi was detained for 15 days for violating the public order statute. However, the politician denied his detention on Twitter the same evening, warning of a disinformation campaign by the authorities to "create chaos, panic and terror in an attempt to break the spirit of the PTI and its supporters."
On Wednesday, PTI Secretary-General Asad Umar and Fawad Choudhry, a high-ranking party official, were also detained. All the aforementioned politicians are part of the leadership of the PTI. According to Geo-TV, they are being detained "to guarantee law and order because they set the tone for events - whether protests or other subversive activity."
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS