ISLAMABAD: Irfan Siddiqui, adviser to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and his son’s tenant were sent to Adiala jail on judicial remand on Saturday, sources told Dawn.

Mr Siddiqui, who is also a senior columnist, was arrested from outside his house in G-10 Friday night by the Ramna Police along with the tenant from G-10/3. Mr Siddiqui was arrested under a tenancy law for not informing the local police while renting his house.

After the arrest the tenant and Mr Siddiqui were taken to the police station where a case was registered against them under PPC section 188, the police said.

On Saturday morning both were produced in the court of the area magistrate handcuffed, where they sought bail, but was denied and were sent to jail on judicial remand for 14 days.

The FIR registered against them stated that a police team was checking and verifying details of the tenant in G-10/3 at around 10pm, the sources said.

Columnist arrested for violating tenancy law, police say

When the police rang a doorbell of a house a man came out and introduced himself as a tenant, and told the police that he had rented the house from Irfanul Haq Siddiqui.

The tenant failed to show a tenancy agreement to the police, the FIR said.

Officers of the capital administration and police were reluctant to talk about the arrests, but some told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the house was owned by Siddiqui’s son Imran Khawar Siddiqui, and he made a lease agreement with tenant Javed Iqal, a resident of Karak district for a year on July 10, 2019.

Section 188 of PPC is a bailable offence but both were denied the bail by the magistrate and sent to jail on 14 days remand.

Officers of the capital administration and police when asked that the house was owned by Mr Siddiqui’s son, who made the agreement with the tenant, replied that Imran Khawar Siddiqui had been settled in Dubai and his father had made the agreement with the tenant by forging his son’s signature.

They claimed that the tenant also told them that he had made the agreement with Mr Siddiqui and not with his son.

Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat, Inspector General of Police (ICP) Mohammad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan, spokesman for the police Assistant Inspector General of Police Sardar Ghias Gul Khan and Personal Staff Officer to the IGP Deputy Superintendent of Police Khalid Awan were not available for comment.

A spokesperson for the capital administration did not comment.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif has strongly condemned Mr Siddiqui’s arrest, saying in a statement that his arrest in a baseless and fabricated case is lawlessness.

The real face of Prime Minster Imran Khan has been exposed with the passage of time, he said.

The arrest is evidence that the dignity of political rivals is not safe in Pakistan, Mr Sharif said, demanding that the case be withdrawn and Mr Siddiqui be released immediately.

PPP Secretary General Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari also strongly condemned the arrest. In a statement, he said the ‘selected’ government’s hostility towards journalists had been exposed.

APP adds: Speaking on Mr Siddiqui’s arrest, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the PTI government would provide justice to every citizen of the country without any discrimination as “we believes in the supremacy of the law”.

While speaking to a private news channel, Ms Awan expressed reservations over the arrest and said Mr Siddiqui and his family would not be treated unjustly.

She said the PTI is not involved in any way in the ongoing cases against the opposition, adding that the courts of Pakistan are completely independent and their decisions should be respected by everyone.

She maintained that the tenancy law was promulgated by the PML-N government, and it applies equally to all citizens.

The PTI-led government respects state institutions and has no policy of covert actions, she said, adding that it was the government’s mission to make all institutions independent but the process will require some time.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2019