KARACHI: Just a day after the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to address the reservations of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) regarding ‘lack of a level-playing field’ for the upcoming general elections, the Karachi president of the party on Saturday approached the chief of the constitutional body complaining about police raids on his house without mentioning any reason and showing search warrant.

In a letter to the chief election commissioner, PTI Karachi president Khurram Sher Zaman said during past few weeks his house had been raided four times by police accompanied by sleuths in plain clothes without mentioning any reason or showing any legal document for their exercise.

Living in hiding for past seven months, Mr Zaman, who’s also an aspirant of the upcoming Feb 8 elections after filing nomination for a National Assembly seat alleged that during the raid, women of his family were questioned and none of the intruders mentioned any reason for such midnight action.

“I request you [chief election commissioner] to investigate unlawful police raids on my residence and the violation of my rights,” he said.

Khurram Sher Zaman alleges women of his family were questioned during four raids in recent weeks

“On four different occasions my residence in Karachi has been raided by police without a proper search warrant. The most recent raid occurred on the night of Friday, December 22, 2023. They have caused immense anxiety for me and my family. These actions have forced me to stay away from my family for seven months, creating an uncertain and difficult situation.”

Only on Thursday, Mr Zaman filed his nomination papers to contest the elections from the National Assembly constituency NA-241, District South. Elected as MPA in two consecutive elections — 2013 and 2018 — he had also served as the parliamentary leader of the party in the Sindh Assembly.

When many of his party colleagues decided to quit the PTI and disown their political association after May 9 incidents, he stood firm and was appointed Karachi president by PTI chief Imran Khan. Mr Zaman, however, suspects that the recent police actions and raids on his house seem as part of a plan to keep him away from the election campaign.

“The repeated raids are in violation of my rights and raise questions over my ability to participate in the democratic process [February 8 elections] freely and without intimidation,” he added.

He also reminded the chief election commissioner of the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s order which directed the ECP to resolve the PTI complaints without disrupting the election schedule.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2023