Sheikh Rashid ready to face arrest again, stands resolute for next elections
Pakistan
Sheikh Rashid ready to face arrest again, stands resolute for next elections
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Former interior minister and Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed stated Monday even if he faces arrest one more time, he will not be discouraged from contesting next general elections.
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, a PTI ally, had been arrested from his Rawalpindi residence by plainclothesmen on Sept 17. He only resurfaced on October 22 in a televised interview maintaining that he had gone on a “chilla” (pilgrimage).
Interacting with media in Lahore today, the former interior minister said during the time he had gone missing, he had been treated appropriately and had not been harmed. “They transformed me into a new Sheikh Rashid,” he said of his captors.
Rashid said he could not tell the cold place he had been kept in, and maintained that “even for Tahajud, he had been offered warm water.”
The former minister reiterated that “we have never fought the armed forces”.
The AML chief reiterated that he would contest next elections against the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) even if he faced arrest again.
Earlier in the day, the Lahore High Court ordered desealing of Sheikh Rashid’s Lal Haveli (in Rawalpindi).
Justice Mirza Waqas Rauf conducted the hearing of the case.
Rashid was present in the court along with his counsels Abdul Razzaq and Sardar Shehbaz.
The court ordered the authorities to immediately unseal Lal Haveli.
The court also declared the decision to revoke the ownership deed of Lal Haveli null and void.
The court, while remanding the decision of the Evacuee Trust Property Board chairman, issued directions to the Board to hear the Lal Haveli case afresh.
The court said Rashid and his brother Sheikh Siddique’s pleas should be heard again and the complainants should be given a fair chance to present their stance in the best interest of justice.
The court remarked that in India a law to the effect had been passed and the issue related to trust properties had been settled once and for all. However, in Pakistan, departments were not complying with laws and became active on their own will, he lamented.
The AML head had filed a petition in the LHC Rawalpindi bench, requesting the court to declare the decision of sealing Lal Haveli null and void.
