Former Pakistan minister Shireen Mazari arrested again

Former Pakistan minister Shireen Mazari has been arrested again, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said in a tweet on Wednesday. The party said that this was a clear violation of the order given by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) prohibiting her arrest until a hearing tomorrow (Thursday). "There’s no respect for Courts anymore by this regime!" the party said. 

Geo News reported that Mazari had been arrested by women personnel of the Punjab Police under Section 4 of the Maintenance of Public Order. 

The authorities in Pakistan have started a crackdown on PTI leaders for the violent protests in Pakistan on May 9, a day after former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Pakistan's Punjab government has also given a 24-hour ultimatum to Imran Khan to hand over alleged rioters hiding in his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. Khan, however, said that an independent, credible and respected lawyer had confirmed his suspicion that this was a planned conspiracy to use the arson on government buildings as a pretext to crackdown on PTI.

PTI's Sindh President Ali Haider Zaidi has also been arrested. In a tweet, he said his house arrest request was accommodated because of a health condition, Asthma & severe strain on his lower back. "Now I am being arrested again from Ziauddin hospital & taken to Jacobababd jail," he said. "Am I being punished for saying positive things about our armed forces or condemning the violence of May 9th?"

Meanwhile, another PTI leader Maleeka Bokhari has also arrested again after she was released from jail. Earlier today, the IHC ordered the release of Bokhari. However, the Punjab Police rearrested Malika hours after her release. 

Imran Khan on Monday said that without any investigation into who was responsible for the arson of a government building or dozens of deaths of unarmed protesters by bullet wounds, around 7000 PTI workers and leaders had been jailed with plans "to ban the largest and only federal party in Pakistan". 

Today, he said PTI's Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Secretary General Asad Umar had been incarcerated for more than a week now. Also, he said, despite court orders journalist Imran Riaz Khan had not been presented in court and there were confirmed reports of torture against him.

"I demand immediate release of all our female leaders, workers, and the female family members of our leaders and workers," he said. Khan said he was deeply disturbed after hearing of Dr Shireen Mazari's treatment and her daughter being physically assaulted by male police officers. "After the IHC granted bail to Dr Mazari and Senator Falak Chitrali they were abducted from within Adyala Jail and taken to thana secretariat where Dr Mazari's screams were heard," he claimed.