The head of the Awami Muslim League (AML), Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, was detained by the Murree Highway in the early hours of Thursday.
Police claimed that Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was detained on Murree Highway. However, Sheikh Rashid’s cousin Sheikh Rashid Shafiq contradicted the police story, saying the authorities had taken him into custody from his home in Rawalpindi and not from the highway.
Rawalpindi Division Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Raja Inayat Ur Rehman had filed a lawsuit against Rashid at the Aabpara Police Station in Islamabad, alleging that former President Asif Ali Zardari was plotting to kill the PTI chief.
In the FIR, the PPP divisional president stated that the AML chief attempted to disparage a former president and place the PPP co-chairman and his family in “permanent danger.” y.
The FIR added that Rashid’s allegations are aimed at provoking a confrontation between the PTI and the PPP and disturbing the peace in the country. The PPP leader added that the AML leader claimed to have vital information on a “plot” to assassinate the PTI leader.
“If so, then the police should take the two leaders into custody under Sections 150 and 151 and thwart the plot” to prevent unrest from spreading across the country, he added.
Three sections – 120B (criminal association), 153A (inciting hostility between different groups) and 505 (statements leading to public mischief) – have been added to the FIR.
Additionally, police told reporters that a bottle of alcohol and a gun belonging to Rashid were seized. Police also said the former interior minister was “drunk” when arrested. Initially, Muree Police arrested him and handed him over to Islamabad Police, who transferred him to Aabpara Police Station, where the case was registered.
Rashid is also involved in another “illegal occupation” case as the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) sealed off Lal Haveli – his residence – and five adjoining units on Jan. 30. On the same day, the Lahore High Court ordered the closure of the property.
The former minister was transferred to the police station of the Secretariat after the medical examination at the Polyclinic.
In response, the former prime minister condemned the arrest of Sheikh Rashid and accused Punjab’s caretaker government – led by media magnate Moshin Naqvi – of being biased.
, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, was detained by the Murree Highway in the early hours of Thursday.){kind=link}