From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: I Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh was detained on Tuesday by Malir police after the the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ordered his expulsion from Karachi’s constituency of PS-88 Malir, where by-polls are taking place for a seat of the Sindh Assembly.
M A Baloch, the provincial lawmaker’s spokesperson, confirmed that Sheikh had been detained by police officials in Darsano Chano area of Malir. However, the police has not commented on the situation so far. The constituency that mainly consists of the city’s suburbs in Malir saw an aggressive election campaign from all political parties, especially the PPP and the PTI. The seat fell vacant after Murtaza Baloch, the minister for human settlement, died of Covid-19 in June last year. The PPP has given ticket to his son, Yousuf Murtaza Baloch, to contest the by-election while the PTI candidate is Jan Sher Junejo.
As many as 108 polling stations have been set up in the constituency, out of which 36 have been declared “sensitive” and another 33 “highly sensitive”.
Earlier today, the PPP wrote a letter to the ECP and urged it to take notice of the alleged rule violations by Sheikh. The letter by Taj Haider, the incharge of the PPP’s Central Election Cell, said Sheikh could be seen roaming the constituency with armed persons and was harassing voters.
