KARACHI: A few hours after the Sindh High Court restrained the anti-corruption establishment (ACE) from arresting Sindh president of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Haleem Adil Sheikh in a graft case, a Sindh police team took him into custody as soon as he stepped out of the high court on Wednesday.

Accompanied by over a dozen lawyers, Mr Sheikh came out of the SHC premises where the police team, which was apparently waiting for him, whisked him away in a mobile van towards an undisclosed location.

Till late in the night, the police had not disclosed on what charges the opposition leader was detained.

The former leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly, who remained in hiding after May 9 violent incidents, surfaced on the premises of the SHC, along with his lawyers, on Wednesday morning.

Haleem Adil appeared in court after obtaining pre-arrest bail from Peshawar High Court; SHC restrains ACE from arresting him

Talking to newsmen on the SHC premises, he said that he had obtained pre-arrest transitory bail from the Peshawar High Court till Sept 4 in two cases registered at the Tipu Sultan and Ferozabad police stations in connection with May 9 riots and a third case lodged against him at the City Courts police station.

He filed a petition before the SHC seeking suspension of a non-bailable arrest warrant issued by an anti-corruption court, Hyderabad.

The petition was heard by a single-judge bench, headed by Justice Amjad Ali Sahito, who suspended the arrest warrant for a week and directed Mr Sheikh to surrender before the trial court.

The bench also restrained the ACE not to arrest the petitioner by the next date of hearing.

After getting relief from the court, Mr Sheikh left the court but returned again, along with his legal team, when he noticed heavy presence of police.

Advocate Abdul Wahab Baloch, one of the counsel representing Mr Sheikh, told Dawn that they had approached the SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Sheikh and informed him that the petitioner had obtained bail in all the cases registered against him, but still police were waiting outside the court premises to arrest him.

He said that the chief justice asked the legal team of the PTI leader to file an application so that an order could be passed accordingly.

Advocate Baloch further said that the chief justice was informed that in July the SHC had barred the police from arresting Mr Sheikh in any fresh case without permission of court in advance. However, the CJ made it clear that they needed to file an application.

Also on Wednesday, Mr Sheikh and PTI’s provincial general secretary Ali Mohammad Palh filed a petition in the SHC and contended that multiple cases had been registered against voters, supporters and workers of the opposition party under Section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code over alleged violation of Section 144 of the criminal procedure code.

Citing the home secretary and inspector general of police as respondents, they submitted that the respondents launched a witch-hunt, conducting raids across the city and illegally apprehending party workers and supporters.

The petitioners asked the SHC to declare that arresting peaceful protesters under Section 188 of the PPC without formal complaints as required under Section 155 of the CrPC was unconstitutional and illegal.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2023