ISLAMABAD: Police and Rawalpindi administration sealed Lal Haveli on Sunday night in Rawalpindi. Police sealed the property on the application of the Evacuee Trust Property Board.
Former minister and chief of Awami Muslim League Sheikh Rasheed today challenged the sealing of Lal Haveli in the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench.
For years, Sheikh Rashid has been using Lal Haveli as his personal residence and political office.
Advocate Sardar Raziq Khan filed the plea in the court requesting an urgent hearing today and the court accepted it.
Meanwhile, AML’s workers have gathered outside Lal Haveli and chanted slogans against the ETPB officials and police.
The famous Lal Haveli, an old building at Bohar Bazaar, is the political office of the AML leader — who insisted he did not get any notice from the ETPB.
“I was not present at the Haveli, I was in Islamabad,” the former federal minister told media.
“They [the government] wanted to arrest me at night. They have now resorted to hooliganism.”
“Hang us publicly and disqualify us, if we don’t own this property,” the former minister challenged the authorities.
According to media reports, the ETPB Deputy Commissioner Asif Khan reached Lal Haveli last night with a heavy contingent of police. The administration sealed two units of Lal Haveli and five adjoining units in Rawalpindi. The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) team was also present at the spot.
The ETPB requested the deputy commissioner, the city police officer (CPO) and FIA to support them to seal their property.
According to the deputy commissioner, Rashid and his brother Sheikh Siddique have illegally occupied the seven land units of the haveli which are ETPB properties.
He said that the board sent several notices to the AML chief and his brother before sealing the property.
“Sheikh Rashid and his brother failed to provide any authentic document or record,” he said. The court had also dismissed Rashid’s injunction request, Rashid continued.
The ETPB sealed a total of seven units including two units of Lal Haveli and five adjoining units.
