A local court in Islamabad on Saturday sent Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed to Adiala Jail on judicial remand for 14 days in a case related to leveling allegations against former president Asif Ali Zardari.
The AML supremo was produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate Umar Shabbir amid strict security by the capital police where the police requested the court for another five-day physical remand of the AML chief along with a photogrammetric test.
During the hearing, the investigation officer informed the court about photogrammetry and voice-matching tests.
Meanwhile, the former interior minister said “It would be better I be sentenced to death the way police have kept me.They blindfolded and tied me to a chair for hours.”
Shiekh Rashid asked to the court to order the authorities to take him to a hospital to bandage his injuries and grant him Rangers’ security. At this, the court ordered to uncuff Rashid.
While the AML chief’s lawyer contended that the sections imposed in the case against Mr Rashid weren’t valid.
Later, the local court reserved its verdict on the police’s plea for an extension in Rashid’s physical remand. It also gave the transcript of Rashid’s interview to his lawyer.
The AML chief was arrested by the Islamabad police in the early hours of Thursday from his home in a private housing society in the capital city. A case was registered against Sheikh Rashid on a complaint lodged by the vice president of PPP’s Rawalpindi chapter at the Aabpara police station. In a talk show, the complainant said, the AML chief accused the PPP co-chairman of having hatched a plan to use terrorists to assassinate PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
Earlier, the PTI chief had alleged that Mr Zardari had hatched a plot to have him killed, adding that a militant group had been hired for this purpose.
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has been booked, according to the FIR, under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc), and 505 (statements related to public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code. His arrest comes after he defied a police notice to appear before the investigation team in the case by 4pm on Wednesday last. However, the AML chief has challenged the notice in the Islamabad High Court.
More Cases Registered Against Sheikh Rashid
Following his arrest, two more cases were registered against the senior politician in Karachi and Islamabad. A case was registered against incarcerated Mr Ahmed in Karachi for using immoral language towards Foreign Minister and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. The case has been registered at the Mochko police station under sections 506, 504, 500 and 153 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on a complaint filed by a PPP worker, Khuda Bux. The complainant alleged that the former interior minister while talking to media outside the Poly Clinic Hospital, Islamabad, used abusive language against Bilawal Bhutto.
Mr Bux said the former interior minister attempted to create chaos and anarchy by using objectional language against the PPP chairman. He demanded the police to take an action against Mr Ahmed as per the law.
Meanwhile, a case has been registered against Sheikh Rashid at the Murree police station under sections 353, 186, 506/2 for interference in official affairs when security officials reached his residence earlier this week to arrest him.
