ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI: Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, a supporter of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, was detained on the Murree Motorway early on Thursday, according to police.
However, the former interior minister and his nephew, Sheikh Rashid Shafiq, disproved the police’s account and claimed that they actually arrested him from his house in Rawalpindi and not from the highway.
Raja Inayat Ur Rehman, the head of the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Rawalpindi Division, had reported Rashid to the police in Islamabad’s Aabpara Police Station after alleging that former president Asif Ali Zardari was planning an assassination attempt on the PTI leader.
The PPP divisional president said in the FIR that the AML chief attempted to disparage a former president and put the PPP co-chairman and his family in “permanent danger”
FIR also stated that Rashid’s accusations are intended to incite conflict between the PTI and the PPP and disturb the peace in the nation.
The PPP leader further mentioned that the AML chairman had allegedly claimed to know crucial details about a “plot” to kill the PTI leader.
If that’s the case, the police should detain both of the leaders in accordance with Sections 150 and 151 and “foil the conspiracy,” he continued, in order to stop the disturbance from spreading throughout the nation.
The FIR now has three more sections: 505 (statements encouraging public mischief), 153A (promoting animosity between certain groups), and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
A bottle of alcohol as well as a weapon were also found in Rashid’s hands, the police informed the media. Additionally, police claimed that the former interior minister was “intoxicated” when he was taken into custody.
He was initially detained by the Muree Police, who then turned him over to the Islamabad Police, who then transferred him to the Aabpara Police Station, where the case was filed.
Rashid is also facing accusations of “illegal occupation” in another lawsuit since on January 30, the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) sealed Lal Haveli, his home, and five surrounding apartments. The Lahore High Court issued an order to de-seal the property that same day.
After receiving medical attention at the Polyclinic hospital, the former minister was taken to the Secretariat police station.
