Sheikh Rashid approaches IHC for post-arrest bail

AML chief says cases being registered against him as he is 'target of political vendetta'

ISLAMABAD:

Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Friday approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for post-arrest bail in the case regarding his allegations against Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chair Asif Ali Zardari of plotting the assassination of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan.

Sheikh Rashid has submitted a post-arrest bail plea in the IHC which is likely to be heard on Monday, reported Express News. Previously, a district and sessions court had rejected two of his bail applications.

In the plea submitted today, the AML chief argued that cases are being registered against him as he "is the target of a political vendetta".

According to the petition, a case was registered on the remarks made against Zardari not on the complaint of the aggrieved party but "on the complaint of another person".

Read Rashid handed over to Murree police on transit remand

The petitioner stated, "I am in jail and now the police do not need me for any further investigation," and requested the court to issue bail orders.

A day earlier, a district and sessions court had rejected Sheikh Rashid's second post-arrest bail plea. Rashid had challenged the dismissal of his previous bail plea by a judicial magistrate.

The former minister 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.

The arrest

Last week, the Islamabad police arrested 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 ex-minister for claiming that former president Zardari was hatching a plot to assassinate Imran Khan.