Sindh Police was pressurised to arrest Captain Safdar, claims Maryam Nawaz’s spokesperson

Police were put under "extreme pressure" to arrest Captain Safdar, Maryam Nawaz's Spokesperson and senior PML-N leader Mohammad Zubair said, quoting Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.

Captain Safdar, Nawaz Sharif's son-in-law and Maryam Nawaz's spouse, was arrested early on Monday by Sindh Police for, among other charges, allegedly violating the sanctity of the Quaid-e-Azam's Mazar (also called Mazar-e-Quaid). 

The sanctity of the Mazar-e-Quaid is protected by The Quaid-i-Azam’s Mazar (Protection and Maintenance) Ordinance, 1971, which explicitly forbids political activities within the premises of the mausoleum. 

“Murad Ali Shah personally confirmed to me his police had nothing to do with this. They were put under extreme pressure,” Zubair told reporters outside Karachi’s Aziz Bhatti police station.

“I am a former governor and I was not allowed inside the police station, even the lawyers were not allowed inside the police station, nor were they allowed to meet [Safdar],” said Zubair.

Zubair called the arrest a “sting operation carried out by the state” by “pressurising” Sindh Police.

“We condemn this and this is state terrorism. If we do not condemn this today, then we all will have to face this tomorrow,” Zubair told reporters after the arrest.

Also read: At Mazar-e-Quaid, Captain Safdar has people chant PML-N slogan 'vote ko izzat do'

The PML-N leader said that they had they been “wondering for quite some time” how the ruling party would “react”.

The former Sindh governor explained that Maryam was staying in the same room from where Capt Safdar was arrested, and that there was no need to “break” into their room.

“When you break the door and enter, what is the fear? That Capt Safdar would have run out? He is in a hotel!” Zubair exclaimed. 

He added that law enforcement could have waited at the “exit points very easily” and could have arrested Safdar “very easily” when he would have come out of his room.

“They planned on arresting Maryam Nawaz and Capt Safdar so the blame will go on Sindh government and Sindh police. But the facts are against it,” said Zubair.

Capt Safdar arrested from hotel in Karachi: Maryam Nawaz

"Police broke my room door at the hotel I was staying at in Karachi and arrested Capt. Safdar," PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz wrote on Twitter, announcing the arrest of her husband. 

She also retweeted a video claiming that the police forcefully entered her hotel room to arrest her husband.

Also read: In elders' fight, no room for children, PDM tells PM Imran Khan

The PML-N leader was taken into custody after he was booked in a case pertaining to the violation of the sanctity of Mazar-e-Quaid where he had chanted the slogan "vote ko izzat do (honour the vote)" and urged people to join him, while on a visit to the mauseoleum with Maryam Nawaz.

Party workers and supporters had responded to Safdar's call and chanted along for an extended period of time as Maryam Nawaz and party spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb looked on. 

The sanctity of the Mazar-e-Quaid is protected by The Quaid-i-Azam’s Mazar (Protection and Maintenance) Ordinance, 1971, which explicitly forbids political activities within the premises of the mausoleum.