Ali Zaidi refutes reports Sindh IGP was kidnapped, forced to register FIR against Safdar

KARACHI: PTI leader and Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi on Monday denied reports that Sindh inspector general of police (IGP) was "kidnapped and forced to register" a first information report (FIR) against PML-N's retired Captain Mohammad Safdar.

Taking to Twitter, Zaidi said: "M. Zubair selling nonsense narrative that CM Sindh told him IG was kidnapped & forced to register FIR. If this is true then CM Sindh must fire IG Sindh or resign himself as his orders were followed." Zaidi was referring to an audio message shared by a journalist on Twitter in which Zubair purportedly can be heard saying that Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told him the IGP was kidnapped and forced to register the FIR against Maryam Nawaz, her husband retired Captain Mohammad Safdar and 200 others for violating the sanctity of the Quaid's mausoleum. Terming the alleged claim as "nonsense narrative", Zaidi said the Sindh government was trying to distance itself from the arrest and the FIR.

In the audio clip circulating on Twitter, Zubair, who was recently appointed as spokesman for PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam, purportedly said that CM Shah confirmed to him "they tried to put pressure on the Sindh Police first to arrest. When they refused to do that, Rangers kidnapped [the IG]. "This is what the chief minister told me [...] he [IGP] was picked up and taken to the sector commander's office where the additional IG was brought in and they were forced to issue orders," Zubair says in the clip being attributed to him.