Court rejects Rashid’s post-arrest bail plea

Prosecutor says AML chief’s statement has far-reaching political implications

ISLAMABAD:

A district and sessions court on Thursday dismissed Awami Muslim League (AML) chief and former interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed's second post-arrest bail plea.

Rashid had challenged the dismissal of his previous bail plea by a judicial magistrate.

Additional Sessions Judge Tahir Abbas Supra heard the post-arrest bail plea of the senior politician, who had been taken into custody for levelling murder plot allegations against the former president and Pakistan People’s Party co-chair Asif Ali Zardari.

During the hearing, Sheikh Rashid's lawyers Sardar Abdul Razziq and Intizar Panjotha, prosecutor Adnan and the plaintiff's lawyer appeared in the court.

During the hearing, advocate Razziq said that according to the FIR, Rashid's statement regarding Zardari's conspiracy to kill Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan aimed to create a clash between the two parties.

The AML leader's lawyer argued that there should have been an investigation into Imran's allegations as according to the police file, Rashid had referred to the PTI chief's own statement regarding Zardari's assassination plot.

Advocate Razziq argued that “this can only be a case of defamation” as senior advocate Latif Khosa has sent a defamation notice on behalf of the PPP leadership.

The court questioned why the investigating officer did not probe Imran Khan on his claims. At this, the plaintiff's lawyer requested to investigate the PTI chief.

The court remarked that the case of alleged accusation "will be made against Imran and not a case of conspiracy".

Moreover, the court instructed the ex-minister to be careful with his choice of words, adding that "whatever you say on TV should be a matter of law in the court".

When asked how many previous cases there have been against the AML chief for "irresponsible talk", the court was told that there have been none.

After listening to the arguments of both parties, the court reserved its decision on Sheikh Rashid's post-arrest bail plea. Later, it announced its reserved verdict, dismissing the AML chief's application.

At the outset of the hearing, Rashid’s lawyer Razziq said that before filing the FIR, a notice was sent to his client by the police and about which they learned through the media. He said that the IHC had suspended that notice but an FIR was registered against his client.

The lawyer said that the sections registered in the FIR could only be filed by the federal government or a provincial government and not by an individual citizen.

He said that no such statement had been made about any religious and ethnic group or community that those sections would be applied.

Sheikh Rashid’s counsel said that his client had only mentioned what Imran Khan had told him. The lawyer said that Imran Khan also made the statement but no action was taken against him.

He requested the court to accept the bail plea arguing that only a defamation case could be filed by Asif Zardari.

Rashid’s lawyer, Panjhota said that his client did not target any group. The late Benazir Bhutto had also given a similar statement after which she was attacked,” he said.

Prosecutor Adnan argued that the IHC had suspended the police notice but it did not stop the police from filing a case.

He argued that investigating the case fell under the purview of the law.

The prosecutor said that both, Zardari and Imran were the heads of their respective parties and said that making a statement that Asif Ali Zardari wanted to kill Imran Khan was not a small thing.

He termed Rashid’s statement extremely inciteful as he had ‘committed no usual crime and its punishment was up to seven years in prison.

After the prosecutor’s arguments, the judge asked him: “According to the sections, the impact of Sheikh Rashid’s statements is on the whole nation. Is this the case?”

Sheikh Rashid is currently in the custody of Murree police after they were granted a one-day transit remand by an Islamabad sessions court. A case was filed against him in Murree on February 3.

Last week, the Islamabad police arrested Sheikh Rashid in a late-night raid from his residence in a private housing society in the federal capital.

An application had been submitted to the Abpara Police Station to register a case against the former minister for claiming that Zardari was hatching a plot to assassinate Imran Khan.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2023.