PTI leaders on Thursday condemned the arrest of Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh, calling it “pure fascism” perpetrated by the “so-called” democratic government.

Sheikh was arrested and taken into custody by officials of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Jamshoro yesterday in connection with a land transaction in Malir.

He was later brought to Karachi and shifted to Aziz Bhatti police station.

Former prime minister Imran Khan said termed the arrest to be “pure fascism”.

“This is pure fascism, reflecting the Zardari-Sharif mafia’s approach of eliminating those they cannot purchase and it is absolutely unacceptable in any democracy,” he said.

Condemning the arrest, PTI secretary general Asad Umar called the government “worst tyrants possible”.

“The system of injustice perpetrated by them is collapsing and it’s only a matter of time before the power of the people brings this system to its end,” he added.

Former minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the actions of the Sindh government showed a “clear picture” of fascism where even journalists speaking the truth were being killed.

“Sindh’s money is being used to build and dismantle government of other provinces while the life of a common man is miserable,” he tweeted.

Former Sindh governor Imran Ismail called Sheikh’s arrest a sign of “indolence” on the part of the provincial government.

“Repeated arrests of Haleem Adil show that the rulers of Sindh are scared,” he stated, adding that the opposition leader was PTI’s valiant soldier.

A first information report (FIR) lodged at Karachi’s Malir police station last night, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, stated that Sheikh was booked under sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc) 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

It said that the PTI leader had gotten 60 to 100 of acres of land transferred via fake revenue entries. “The same was also leased for 30 years in Thana Bula Khan.”

It added that Sheikh caused losses to the public exchequer by manipulation, fraud and foregery in the official record.

Meanwhile, in a video posted on Twitter, Sheikh’s daughter Ayesha Haleem alleged that the her father had been arrested in a 30-year-old case. “The Sindh government made series of cases against my father after he became the opposition leader,” she said.

Ayesha claimed that the SHC had already issued stay orders in the case Sheikh had been arrested in.

Sheikh’s arrest

According to a Dawn report, Sheikh had appeared before ACE Jamshoro and was arrested after he had recorded his statement.

ACE officer Zeeshan Hyder had summoned him to record his statement at ACE police station Kotri in a land transaction case of 63-acre government land in Thana Bula Khan.

He was later taken into custody in a case related to the transfer of 70 acres of land in Quaidabad lodged by ACE circle officer, Abdul Wahab. Some government officials were also co-accused in the case.

Soon after his arrest, PTI lawyers gathered and blocked a section of National Highway.

Earlier, after recording his statement Sheikh had told journalists that Sharifs wanted judicial decisions that suited them and they had always attacked institutions and judiciary.

He had that he was being implicated in false cases at the instance of PPP leaders Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah under a conspiracy.

Sheikh had said that a false case was lodged at ACE Jamshoro.

Earlier this month, “plain-clothed men” from ACE Jamshoro had detained the PTI leader in Lahore in the middle of the night. On July 7, the Lahore High Court granted him protective bail in the land scam case till July 18 subject to personal bonds before the court.