Ex-Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi arrested, PTI calls it 'illegal tactic'

As the political turmoil continues to intensify in Pakistan, the country’s former Foreign Minister and the Vice Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Shah Mehmood Qureshi, was arrested on Saturday. Imran Khan’s party took to Twitter to confirm the arrest of the veteran leader. The party called the attack an ‘illegal tactic’. 

“Illegal tactics against Tehreek-e-Insaf continue Tehreek-e-Insaf Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi arrested again illegally,” the party wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Shah Mehmood Qureshi was arrested by a heavy contingent of police from his residence in Islamabad Shah Mehmood Qureshi is being transferred to FIA headquarters,” the party furthered. 

According to The Express Tribune, a Pakistani news outlet, Qureshi was arrested soon after a press conference in which he announced that he will be moving to the Supreme Court over the likely delay in the country’s general elections. 

Qureshi’s arrest and the Cypher case

Qureshi’s arrest came amid the ongoing investigation into the Cypher case by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency. As per the Pakistani news outlet, Qureshi, a close aide of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has already appeared for the inquiry into the case twice. In the midst of all the chaos, a spokesperson of the Islamabad Police has confirmed that Qureshi was arrested by the FIA.

Meanwhile, the PTI chief Khan, who already has an FIR against him in the Cypher case, is currently serving time in the Attock Jail in Punjab. Earlier this month, Khan was sentenced to three years in prison by a trial court in Islamabad. Khan was convicted in the infamous Toshakhana case and was disqualified from entering mainstream politics for the next five years.