KARACHI: Sindh government on Sunday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan’s claim that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif forced Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to suspend SSP Malir Rao Anwar for arresting Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly and MQM leader Khwaja Izharul Hassan.
A Sindh government spokesperson said that the impression that SSP Rao Anwar was suspended by the Sindh CM after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s call was wrong. The spokesman said that Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had taken the administrative decision before speaking to the premier.
Earlier on Saturday, PTI chairman Imran Khan waded into the controversy over the arrest and release of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan and threw his weight behind the police officer accusing the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of forcing the Sindh chief minister to suspend him.
On Friday, Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Khawaja Izhar, who had got pre-arrest bail in 25 cases pertaining to listening to the provocative speeches of MQM supremo Altaf Hussain, was arrested under another FIR by SSP Anwar.
Both the prime minister and the chief minister had expressed concerns over the manner in which the opposition leader was arrested. The Sindh police chief suspended the SSP and Khawaja Izhar was released on a personal bond in the case.
The spokesman for the chief minister denied the impression that SSP Anwar was suspended at the behest of the prime minister. “The CM took this administrative decision on his own and PM Sharif called him over the phone later,” he added.
