Former foreign minister and vice-president of the opposition PTI party, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has been arrested in Pakistan. The party announced this on Saturday on the online platform X, which was previously called Twitter.
Qureshi was arrested after a press conference at his residence in the capital Islamabad under a large police presence. “The rule of law and freedom of expression have been completely abolished in Pakistan,” criticized the PTI. The party did not give any reasons for the arrest, which were also reported by the Pakistani media.
In Pakistan, a power struggle has been raging for months between the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the head of the PTI and former Prime Minister Imran Khan. The former cricket star was jailed and sentenced to three years in a corruption trial earlier in August. Observers suspect political reasons.
On Friday, the electoral commission in the country announced that the parliamentary elections planned for autumn would be postponed. Informed circles in Islamabad even expect a delay until spring 2024. The PTI then announced that it would take legal action against the delay. (dpa)
