Rashid gets bail in Murree case

A local court in Murree has granted bail to the former interior minister and Awami Muslim League (AML) chief, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, in a case pertaining to allegedly threatening and manhandling police officers during a police raid.

While granting bail to the AML chief in the case registered at the Murree police station, Civil Judge Muhammad Zeeshan ordered him to submit a surety bond of Rs100,000.

The court declared that there was nothing in the case which would not allow the suspect to be extended the benefit of bail.

Granting the post-arrest bail to the former interior minister, the court directed the Jail Superintendent of Adiala Jail that if the accused was not wanted in any other case, he should be released forthwith.

In its order, the court set the next date of hearing in the next week besides directing the investigating officer to submit a challan on the next date of hearing.

Advocate Sardar Abdul Raziq Khan appeared on behalf of the accused and adopted the stance that the Islamabad police raided Rashid’s residence in the limits of Tehsil Murree, District Rawalpindi without arrest warrants.

The counsel argued that the police broke the doors of the house and forced their way into the house of the former interior minister before taking him into custody.

“The police personnel looted cash, mobile phones, valuable watches, two bulletproof vehicles and other valuables from his house and later filed a false case against him,” the counsel alleged.

“Privacy of the house is protected under the Constitution. No one is allowed to enter a home without a warrant. Sheikh Rashid is a senior politician, and parliamentarian and is a 16-time minister. He is not a terrorist. The law does not allow what was done at his house at night,” the counsel maintained and added that it was a false case based on political vendetta.

On the other hand, after his second post-arrest bail plea was rejected by a district and sessions judge in Islamabad on Thursday, the AML chief has filed an application in the Islamabad High Court, seeking post-arrest bail in the case registered at Aabpara Police Station for levelling murder plot allegations against the former president and Pakistan Peoples’ Party co-chair Asif Ali Zardari.

IHC Judge Mohsin Akhtar Kayani will hear the bail application on Monday [tomorrow].

Nomination papers accepted

Meanwhile, Rashid’s nomination papers for the by-poll in the Rawalpindi constituency (NA-62) were accepted.

The AML chief was summoned by the returning officer to join the scrutiny process. However, he could not appear “due to security concerns”, the jail authorities informed the RO. However, the AML chief's nephew and former MNA Sheikh Rashid Shafique as well as former Punjab Assembly MPA Raja Rashid Hafeez were present at the RO's office.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2023.