- Former foreign minister and vice president of the opposition PTI party, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has been arrested in Pakistan.
- It’s about secret information that Quereshi is said to have passed on.
- In Pakistan, a power struggle has been raging for months between the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and opposition leader Imran Khan of the PTI.
The party reported the arrest on the online platform X, which was previously called Twitter. Qureshi was taken into custody under a high police presence after a press conference at his residence in the capital Islamabad. “The rule of law and freedom of expression have been completely abolished in Pakistan,” criticized the PTI.
Legend:
Former Foreign Minister Quereshi in his office in Islamabad in June 2020.
REUTERS/Salahuddin/File Photo
Acting Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said in a statement to journalists that the arrest was in connection with a wire report. A wire report represents encrypted telegrams to convey confidential diplomatic messages.
The statement also said there were official investigations into PTI chief and former Prime Minister Imran Khan and some of his party colleagues after information from the report was illegally shared. As a PTI spokesman confirmed to the German Press Agency, PTI politician and former planning minister Asad Umar was also arrested on Sunday.
Power struggle in Pakistan
A power struggle has been raging in Pakistan for months between the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and opposition leader Khan. The former cricketer was sentenced to three years in prison in a corruption trial earlier in August and jailed. Observers suspect political reasons.
On Friday, the electoral commission in the country announced that the parliamentary elections planned for autumn would be postponed. Informed circles in Islamabad even expect a delay until spring 2024. The PTI then announced that it would take legal action against the delay.