RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday claimed he was “tortured mentally and physically as well as kept in harshest cold weather” in jail.
Appearing before Duty Magistrate Syed Jahangir Ali in the GHQ attack case, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the police tried to take his statement but he wanted to record his statement in the presence of his counsels.
The former foreign minister said it was how he was being treated in jail for the past several months. “Is this justice? I am tortured,” he asked.
Qureshi said he would swear on the Holy Quran that he was not present in Rawalpindi on May 9 and instead, he was in Karachi that day.
“I was with my wife in the Aga Khan Hospital. Get a record from PEMRA, I was present in Karachi,” said Qureshi.
The PTI vice chairman requested the duty magistrate to get his handcuffs unlocked, upon which the judge directed the police to free his hands.
Qureshi apprised the court he was acquitted by three Supreme Court judges, yet he was arrested under MPO 3.
“One night I am arrested and in the morning I am told that I am being released. When I asked what made it happen? They replied there is a loophole in the case,” he said.
He said he was arrested on one order and then the order was withdrawn.
Qureshi said he was ordered to be arrested on December 26 then the date was changed to 27. He was within the jail’s premises when Punjab police arrived to arrest him, he said.
“I have been a member of the assembly for five times. SHO Ashfaq tortured me. He kicked and punched me,” he said. He said he felt pain in his chest for which he begged the superintendent police for hours to take him to hospital.
“A doctor was called who was carrying just a blood pressure checking machine,” he added.
Earlier, barring journalists from entering the judicial complex, Rawalpindi Police claimed the media coverage of GHQ attack case against Shah Mahmood Qureshi was banned.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi was brought before the duty magistrate in the GHQ attack case in Rawalpindi where the police officials instructed journalists to talk to their seniors as media persons’ entry was not allowed.
Talking to the media, Qureshi’s counsel Taimoor Malik wondered what kind of in-camera trial it was where the media was being stopped from carrying out its duties. He said he would talk to the judge regarding the restriction on media.
Meanwhile, Meher Bano Qureshi, the daughter of the incarcerated PTI leader, said, “We have to decide which direction we are heading”. She said stopping the media was disappointing.
On December 26, PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s hopes of getting freedom were dashed after he was detained under Maintenance of Public Order (3-MPO) despite securing bail in the cipher case.
The 15-day detention order had been issued by the Rawalpindi deputy commissioner over Qureshi’s alleged involvement in the May 9 riots and the possible adverse repercussions on public safety and law and order situation if he was to be released.
“It is probable that after his release from jail, he will again continue his above activities which may lead to a law and order situation, harmful to the life and property of the general public,” the deputy commissioner’s order had read.
Later, the deputy commissioner withdrew the detention order for Qureshi at Rawalpindi City Police Officer’s request before his rearrest on December 28 from the Adiala Jail on charges of attack on the GHQ on May 9, under two cases lodged in Sadar Bairuni and R A Bazaar police stations.
Minutes before being shoved into a police vehicle, Qureshi said “The rulers violated the order of the apex court and are arresting me again in a false case. I represent the nation. I am innocent and I am being targeted for vendetta without any reason.”
During the episode, the PTI leader kept protesting that he was being arrested illegally and accused the police of making a mockery of the Supreme Court’s orders. Qureshi was later handed over to the police to obtain his physical remand.
