By Special Correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Awami Muslim League (AML) head, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was produced in a local court Thursday hours after he was arrested by Islamabad’s Aabpara police in connection with his remarks against former president Asif Ali Zardari.
The Islamabad police arrested Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in the early hours of Thursday. He was taken into custody in connection with the remarks he allegedly made against former president Asif Ali Zardari wherein he accused the latter of hatching a murder plot to eliminate Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan.
‘’Will be produced in court today’’
Confirming the arrest, his nephew Sheikh Rashid Shafique said that Rashid was arrested from his house in a private housing society in the limits of Islamabad. He hoped that Rashid will be produced in the court today. The senior politician, who is also an ally of the PTI, was arrested on a complaint filed by Raja Inayat-ur-Rehman, a vice president of Pakistan Peoples’ Party Rawalpindi Division, on January 27 in which he said that the AML chief, in a television interview on January 27, alleged that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari got the assistance of some terrorist to assassinate Imran Khan.
PTI chief Imran Khan in a televised address on January 27 had alleged that Zardari was behind a fresh assassination plot — “plan C” — and that a terrorist group had been engaged for the purpose. He, however, offered no evidence to back up his accusation.
The first information report was registered at Aabpara Police Station in Islamabad under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
BBC Urdu quoted Sheikh Rashid Ahmed as claiming that around 300-400 policemen barged into his house and thrashed staffers before forcibly taking him away. He further alleged that some personnel used ladders to enter his house.
In a video message shared by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on its official Twitter account, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told journalists that police ransacked his house and beat up domestic staffers while attempting to arrest him.
