Sheikh Rasheed Only Cited Imran Khan: Lawyers Tell Court

Sheikh Rasheed Only Cited Imran Khan: Lawyers Tell Court
A district and sessions court in Islamabad has rejected the post-arrest bail plea of Awami Muslim League (AML) chief and former interior minister Sheikh Rasheed.

During the hearing, Sheikh Rasheed told the court that he just cited Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s statement, in which he accused Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari of plotting his assassination.

The former minister said that since Khan made these allegations; therefore, he should be arrested. "Instead of arresting him (Imran Khan), they have taken me into custody,", he added.

Sheikh Rasheed is facing charges of levelling murder plot allegations against Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari, resisting arrest, and passing "nasty" comments against Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in various cities.

The AML chief’s lawyers had filed a new plea seeking the former minister's bail in the sessions court, following the rejection by a judicial magistrate. However, the sessions court judge, Tahir Mehmood, forwarded the plea to an additional sessions court.

The plea maintained that the former minister had been targeted for political revenge. More interrogation is not necessary because he is on judicial remand in Adiala Jail, the plea stated.

Meanwhile, Rasheed was presented before civil judge Muhammad Zeeshan's court in Murree, while the police sought a three-day physical remand of the former minister. However, the court rejected the police's plea and ordered to send Rasheed to jail on judicial remand.

On Wednesday, a local court in Islamabad sent the AML chief into police custody on transitory remand in the case filed against him in Murree police station for threatening police.

On February 6, 2023, the IHC barred the police from taking action against Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed in the FIRs lodged against him in Lasbela and Karachi. IHC’s Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri issued these orders while hearing a petition filed by the former interior minister against the registration of a case in Sindh.