PA opposition leader booked in two cases

A day after police accepted an application against the chief of the Anti-Encroachment Force for razing of farmhouses and allegedly robbing them in District Malir during an anti-encroachment operation, police on Sunday registered two separate cases against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Vice President and provincial assembly opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh and others for attempted murder, interference in government duties, and disruption during the anti-encroachment drive carried out at his relatives’ farmhouses, and blocking the M-9 Motorway.

The first case was registered at the Memon Goth police station under the sections 147, 148, 149, 186, 353, 324, 427, 504 and 506-B that pertain to disturbing peace, causing financial losses to government property, assault on government employees, attempted murder, intimidation, and interference in the government work.

At least 70 people, including the PTI lawmaker, were named in the FIR filed on the request of Muhammad Ayub, a resident of Karachi's Korangi neighbourhood. Supporters of Sheikh had resisted the anti-encroachment operation on Saturday and some protesters had pelted the government staff with stones and smashed windows of their vehicles.

The second FIR was lodged under the sections 147, 149, 341 and 186 at the Gadap City police station on a complaint of Gadap City SHO Inayat Ullah Marwat. The officer stated in the FIR that he was patrolling the area when he received information that Sheikh, farmhouse security guard Ramzan Ali Lakho and 200 to 250 others had blocked both the tracks of the Super Highway near the Toll Plaza and were not allowing commuters to use the highway, creating a law and order problem.

“The SHO attempted to open the Super Highway but Haleem Adil Sheikh and others did not allow the police to open the Super Highway and continued to disrupt the law and order situation,” the complainant stated.

The SHO claimed that as he called more police force, all of the suspects escaped the scene. On Saturday, the District Malir administration along with the Sindh Building Control Authority had apparently launched an anti-encroachment operation against only two farmhouses in the district’s Memon Goth.

Sheikh later claimed that the farmhouses belonged to his brother and cousin but Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said the operation was against encroachments in the Malir district and it was not politically driven.

Hours after the anti-encroachment operation, the police accepted an application against Anti-Encroachment Force Director Tariq Dharejo. Sheikh was also present at the Gadap City police station when the application was submitted by Lakho.

The applicant said that he had been working at the farmhouse as a security guard for the past decade. He added that at around 10am on Saturday, 60 to 70 armed men arrived at the farmhouse and one of them introduced himself as Anti-Encroachment Force Director Tariq Dharejo.

“I told him that PTI leader Haleem Adil Sheikh’s cousin Tariq Qureshi owns the farmhouse,” the security guard replied to the director when he asked him if Sheikh was the owner of the farmhouse.

“Then he [Dharejo] phoned someone, and calling him CM sahib informed him that the farmhouse owner is Sheikh’s cousin, following which the person on the other end directed him to demolish the farmhouse and rob the valuables.”

The applicant said the operation continued for at least four hours until the media arrived at the scene.