Imran Khan's party leader Fawad Chaudhry ‘arrested’ for sedition

Lahore: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)   leader Fawad Chaudhry was arrested by Islamabad police in the wee hours of Wednesday.

Chaudhry was arrested outside his residence in Lahore, according to his family.

The development came shortly after Chaudhry publicly criticised the Pakistan government for plotting to arrest the country’s former prime minister Imran Khan.

An FIR was registered against Chaudhry under sections 153-A (promotion of enmity between groups), 506 (criminal intimidation), 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) and 124-A (sedition) of the Pakistan Penal Code at Islamabad’s Kohsar Police Station, the Dawn reported.

Soon after rumours of an impending arrest of former Pakistan PM spread, PTI leaders and workers in large numbers gathered outside Imran Khan’s residence in Lahore’s Zaman Park in the early hours of Wednesday.

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Party workers and supporters raised slogans in support of Imran Khan and vowed unwavering loyalty to their leader, even if it meant putting their own lives on the line, Geo News reported.

“He was taken away from outside his house at 5:30am in four cars that did not have any number plates,” Faisal Chaudhry, the PTI leader’s brother, told Dawn.com  over the phone.

Faisal termed his brother’s arrest “illegal” and asserted that the family was unaware of his location.

An official PTI Twitter account also posted a series of videos, showing a convoy of police vehicles which the party claimed was carrying Chaudhry after his arrest.

The Islamabad police in a tweet said that Fawad tried to “incite violence against a constitutional institution” and “inflame the sentiments of the people”.

Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Fawad’s arrest was a “strong slap on the face of democracy and rule of law”.

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PTI’s Ali Zaidi also strongly condemned the arrest of the senior party leader and said the government was “hell-bent on pushing this country towards anarchy!”

Pakistan has become a lawless state at the hands of these lawbreaking lawmakers and corrupt law enforcement officers,” Zaidi tweeted.

Earlier today, PTI leader Farrukh Habib said that Fawad was taken into custody from his residence. “This imported government has gone berserk,” he tweeted

The arrest of Mr. Chaudhry further deepens political fault lines in Pakistan where the Khan-led Opposition is demanding snap polls. General elections in Pakistan are due after August. However, Imran Khan is demanding snap polls.

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