The PTI and the family of MPA Arsalan Taj Ghumman alleged on Sunday that the Sindh lawmaker was “abducted” from his home in Karachi by men in plainclothes who were accompanied by police.

The PTI’s Karachi chapter shared a video of Ghumman’s wife on Twitter. In the video, she said that police attacked their home at around 5:30am without a female police constable and broke down the doors.

“We were harassed. My question is where was the search warrant if they had arrived to arrest my husband?

“When we asked them this, they had no answer. They abducted my husband without any reason or search warrant.” She alleged that her husband was being persecuted for opposing the PPP.

She said the family did not know about Ghumman’s whereabouts and called on the judiciary to take notice.

PTI spokesperson and MPA Jamal Siddiqi told Dawn.com that a few men in plainclothes, who were also accompanied by police, broke down the lock of Ghumman’s home in Gulshan-i-Iqbal near Disco Bakery and forced their way in.

Quoting the family members, Siddiqi said that the “intruders” allegedly misbehaved with the lawmaker’s mother and wife, before taking him away. “They did not have a search warrant,” he said.

Siddiqi said CCTV footage obtained from the area “clearly showed” the PTI leader being taken away by policemen yet the police were “denying it”.

There was no official confirmation from the police about the incident when approached by Dawn.com for a comment.

The party also shared the purported CCTV footage of the incident in which the police can be seen pushing a man into a car, which then departs followed by a police van.

The PTI said that party leaders Aftab Siddiqi and Imran Ismail had also penned a letter to Sindh Chief Secretary Sohail Rajpoot to take notice of the incident, take “stern” action against the provincial police and to get Ghumman released.

PTI demands lawmaker’s release

Meanwhile, PTI Chairman Imran Khan demanded Ghumman’s immediate release.

“Demand immediate release of PTI MPA and Secretary General Karachi Arsalan Taj Ghumman, who was abducted in early hours of this morning […] Complete dismantling of our democracy and unravelling of rule of law,” he said.

PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry also called for the lawmaker’s release.

Ex-Sindh governor Ismail demanded an explanation for why Ghumman was allegedly picked up. “What did he say because of which someone became a traitor?” he asked and appealed to “all agencies” to find out where he was.