ISLAMABAD: Rawalpindi Police have arrested chief of Awami Muslim League Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in May 9 case just moments after his release from Adiala Jail on Tuesday.
A case was registered against Rashid for vandalism at the Metro bus station situated at Sixth Road in Rawalpindi. The former interior minister is being shifted to New Town Police Station.
The hearing of the riots-related cases was adjourned till January 25.
PTI leaders strongly condemned arrest of Sheikh Rashid saying that it was a tactic to deter an ally of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf.
راولپنڈی :سابق وفاقی وزیر داخلہ شیخ رشید احمد کو گرفتار کر لیا گیا pic.twitter.com/HW9JeswQk8
— Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (@ShkhRasheed) January 16, 2024
Barrister Gohar Khan, chairman of PTI, talked to media to voice his concern against the arrest of Awami Muslim League chief.
Earlier, Sheikh Rashid, the leader of the Awami Muslim League (AML), faced disqualification from contesting elections in the NA-56 constituency due to various objections raised by the returning officer (RO) during the scrutiny of his nomination papers.
The objections, shared with the senior politician and his nephew Sheikh Rashid Shafiq, who also had his papers rejected, cited reasons such as unpaid resthouse rent, inconsistent asset details, and failure to provide complete financial information.
The objection document revealed that Sheikh Rashid’s nomination was rejected due to an outstanding bill of Rs322,000 for his stay at a Murree Forest Department resthouse from September 4 to September 9, 2022.
Additionally, the senior politician failed to provide comprehensive asset details, with discrepancies noted between the declared asset value and actual investments.
Furthermore, he omitted income information for the years 2021 to 2023 and did not disclose the purchase of land in Mouza Sial.
The RO also pointed out issues with Sheikh Rashid Shafiq’s nomination, including the absence of his wife’s tax returns and incomplete asset information. Both candidates’ nominations for NA-56 and NA-57 were ultimately rejected.
Sheikh Rashid is part of a series of prominent political figures whose nominations faced rejection by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Notably, Imran Khan, the incarcerated founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), had his nomination papers rejected for NA-122 and NA-89, alongside Shah Mahmood Qureshi, PTI’s Vice Chairman, for NA-150 and NA-151.
The PTI plans to challenge these rejections in the Supreme Court. Other PTI members, including Dr. Yasmin Rashid and Ejaz Chaudhry, also faced rejection of their nomination papers by the ECP for various constituencies.
Additionally, Ali Amin Gandapur from NA-44, PTI’s candidate, plans to contest the ECP’s decision in the high court.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
