LAHORE: Former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan Thursday strongly condemned the arrest of Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh a day after he was held by the province’s Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE).

Taking to Twitter, Khan termed Sheikh’s arrest as “pure fascism” that reflects the coalition leaders’ approach to eliminate those they “cannot buy.”

“Strongly condemn persecution and arrest of Sindh Opposition leader Haleem Adil Sheikh by Sindh govt. This is pure fascism, reflecting the Zardari-Sharif mafia’s approach of eliminating those they cannot purchase and it is absolutely unacceptable in any democracy,” the former premier wrote.

ACE Sindh had arrested the PTI leader in a property transfer case on Wednesday when he went to the agency’s office in Jamshoro to record his statement. This is the second time this month that ACE arrested Sheikh in the case. ACE had arrested Sheikh on July 6 from Lahore, but later, the Lahore High Court (LHC) ruled the detention of the PTI leader to be “unlawful” and granted him protective bail.

Meanwhile, senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry demanded immediate release of Haleem. “Haleem Adil Sheikh has been put in jail in a fake case a 10th time,” Fawad said. Haleem also appeared before the provincial anti-corruption court to defend the allegations of raising a loan from a bank on the basis of fake property documents.