Former Pakistan Interior minister and chief of the AML Sheikh Ahmed arrested

Pakistan: Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, chief of the Awami Muslim League (AML) and Pakistan’s former interior minister in the Imran government, was arrested from the Murree Expressway in the early hours of Thursday and taken to the Abpara police station in Islamabad. Police said a bottle of liquor and a weapon were recovered from Sheikh Rashid’s possession, adding that the minister was intoxicated, the report said.

According to the report, the arrest comes after the Islamabad Capital Police issued a final warning to the former interior minister to appear in connection with a complaint lodged against him. complaint claiming that former president Asif Ali Zardari was hatching a plot to assassinate Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan.

Taking to Twitter, Sheikh Rashid’s posted a picture with the caption, “At Aapara police station” (sic).

تھانہ آبپارہ میں pic.twitter.com/wEm0CFmXrS

— Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (@ShkhRasheed) February 1, 2023

“Around 12.30, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was arrested from his residence in Punjab province. Around 300-400 people of Islamabad Police entered the minister’s house, broke its windows, beat him and took him into their custody. I request PTI workers to reach court by 7.30 am today,” on behalf of Ahmed, a spokesperson said in a video message.

راشد شفیق کا تھانہ آبپارہ کے باہر بیان #ReleaserSheikhRasheed pic.twitter.com/v8SvlzZwRJ

— Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (@ShkhRasheed) February 1, 2023

PTI President Imran Khan has strongly condemned the arrest. “Never in our history have we had such a biased, vindictive caretaker government appointed by the totally discredited Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP),” he wrote on Twitter. He questioned whether Pakistan could “endure a street agitation.” Towards which we are being pushed.

In a video message on Wednesday evening before the arrest, the Awami Muslim League (AML) chief had said that the court had already directed that the police ‘notice be withdrawn.’ Later the same day, the Islamabad Capital Police tweeted that ‘Supreme Court has ordered senior law officer to appear, and this matter is under hearing in court, so no opinion can be given.’

The police said in a tweet, ‘The order of the court is clear, so avoid arbitrary interpretation. The concerned persons are requested not to distort the facts.

The police complaint was lodged with the Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) Islamabad and then forwarded to the Aabpara police station for further action, it was reported earlier. In response to this, the former minister was called by the Abpara police on Monday and Tuesday. However, both the times, he did not appear before the police after which he was called on Wednesday.

The ICT police wrote on its Twitter account on Tuesday (January 31), “Sheikh Rashid Ahmed is not cooperating with the police investigation.”