May 11, 2023
ISLAMABAD – A day after PTI Chairman Imran Khan was arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), the capital police on Wednesday arrested party secretary general Asad Umar from the same place.
Umar was heading to the Supreme Court to challenge Imran’s arrest, when he was taken into custody by the police in cases pertaining to causing damage to state property, according to the Islamabad police.
PTI’s official Twitter account shared videos of Umar’s arrest, which showed dozens of policemen surrounding and dragging him, presumably, towards a police van.
This is how @Asad_Umar was abducted under the court’s premises. Law of the jungle ruling in Pakistan now. #ReleaseImranKhan pic.twitter.com/UrA3NL5XwF
— PTI (@PTIofficial) May 10, 2023
Following Umar’s arrest, PTI leader Shireen Mazari said the IHC had become a “fertile ground to illegally arrest PTI leaders”.
“Fascism confirmed. They can’t get the terrorists but PTI leaders are now terrorists for cabal of crooks & the state? This is despicable,” she tweeted.
Screengrab of Shireen Mazari’s tweet on May 10, 2023.
Separately, PTI leader Faisal Javed Khan said the “criminals who are wanted by the courts and have fled are in power”.
Screenshot of PTI’s Faisal Javed Khan’s tweet on May 10, 2023.
PTI leader and lawyer Babar Awan claimed Umar’s arrest was illegal as he had been granted protective bail by the Sindh High Court (SHC).
Talking to the media today in Islamabad, Awan said, “The SHC had clearly granted him protective bail, and even in other cases here, he was on bail.”
آج پھر شب خون مارا گیا ،اسد عمر کو آج ہائیکورٹ سے گرفتار کیا گیا..!!
رہنما تحریک انصاف بابر اعوان#ReleaseImranKhan#نکلو_خان_کی_زندگی_بچاؤ pic.twitter.com/r9D4hMJDWj
— PTI Bahawalpur (@PTIOfficialBWP) May 10, 2023