PTI Leader Asad Qaiser Arrested From Islamabad

Reports suggest he was arrested on charges of corruption at a medical college in his native Swabi

PTI Leader Asad Qaiser Arrested From Islamabad

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser was arrested by police and anti-corruption authorities from Islamabad on Friday evening.

In a video message, Qaiser's brother said that the PTI leader was arrested from his home in Bani Gala in Islamabad. 

He added that officials of the Islamabad Police, along with some other officials in civil clothes, arrived at their home and arrested Qaiser. The officials told Qaiser's family they were taking him to the relevant police station.

Qaiser is accused of corruption in procuring medical equipment for the Gujju Khan Medical College in his native Swabi district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Qaiser's arrest comes days after he was part of a delegation of PTI leaders who met with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Some videos and images from that meeting showed PTI leaders standing in a row behind Rehman, who led evening prayers.

Recently, several PTI leaders and politicians aligned with the PTI have been arrested and then disappeared for an extended period only to make abrupt returns with interviews in the media in which they denounced the May 9 incidents and Imran Khan's policies.

This includes PTI leaders Usman Dar and Sadaqat Ali Abbasi and Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed.

Ahmed on Friday ventured into the public after the afternoon prayers. This was his first public interaction after he returned from a nearly month-long hiatus where no one knew where he was. 

Videos of the event showed people swarming Ahmed in a busy marketplace in Rawalpindi. The AML chief is quite popular in his native constituency.