Rashid appeals to CJP after 'raid' at Islamabad home, says 'life in danger'

Former interior minister claims staff beaten up, vehicles, licensed arms and CCTV footage taken

Former interior minister Sheikh Rashid made an impassioned plea for justice on Wednesday to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial.

In a video message posted on Twitter shortly after accusing Rangers of raiding his house along with the Islamabad Police, former prime minister Imran Khan's close aide said that his life was in danger with three men engaged to eliminate him.

Rashid reiterated that he had nothing to do with the Al-Qadir Trust case and had never associated with former advisor to prime minister on accountability Shahzad Akbar in this regard. The former interior minister said that if he had any information on the matter he would appear before the anti-graft watchdog as a witness.

Rashid questioned how a common person would survive in this country when the state and politics will "stoop this low". He appealed to CJP Bandial for justice claiming that "after the Almighty only the Supreme Court and the CJP were now the nation's hope".

Read Sheikh Rashid dissociates himself from Al-Qadir Trust case

He added that he was not in the country and returned only early this morning.

According to Rashid, troops of the paramilitary force and Islamabad Police broke into his house in Islamabad Sector F-7 in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

“I was not present in the house,” tweeted Rasheed hours later, claiming that a raid party of around 80 to 90 people broke down the door of his house.

آج صبح3بجےرینجرزاسلام آبادپولیس اوربعض سول کپڑوں میں ملبوس 80-90لوگ میرےگھرF-7-4اسلام آباد میں دروازےتوڑکرداخل ہوگئے میں گھرمیں موجودنہیں تھاملازمین کومارمارکرانکےبازوتوڑدیےحسب معمول میری دونوں گاڑیاں لائسنسی اسلحہ اورCCTV فوٹیج بھی ساتھ لےگئے11.30بجے ویڈیو پیغام میں بات کروں گا pic.twitter.com/srTzew2Hds

— Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (@ShkhRasheed) May 31, 2023

 

They beat up the house help and broke their arms, said the former minister, adding that the raid party took away two vehicles parked in the premises, licensed weapons and footage from the CCTV cameras installed in the vicinity. The former minister claimed that the Pakistan Rangers and police were accompanied by 20 to 22 men in plainclothes.

Rashid, who is also the chief of Awami Muslim League, has been evading arrest since the state’s crackdown on PTI’s senior leadership began earlier this month shortly after Imran’s arrest in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case and subsequent release on court orders.

Rashid was among three senior leaders of the former premier’s cabinet who were summoned by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on May 30, a day earlier, for their alleged involvement in the Al-Qadir graft case. Besides Rashid, former information minister Fawad Chaudhry and former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Pervez Khattak, were issued call up notices by the anti-graft body for their alleged collusion in an illegal settlement and money laundering of around £190 million recovered from a property tycoon by the United Kingdom.

Posting his reply to NAB on Twitter, Rasheed distanced himself from the case, claiming he was absent from the cabinet meeting where the matter of the Al-Qadir Trust was taken up and had no information or evidence on the subject.

Today copy of my reply to Nab against there short notice to me to appear be fore Nab as a witness in Al-Qadir Trust case pic.twitter.com/SgtED5aadA

— Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (@ShkhRasheed) May 30, 2023

"Furthermore, I was having strained relations with Shahzad Akbar and was not even on talking terms with him,” wrote Rashid. "I have no evidence or document in my possession with regard to the Al-Qadir Trust case," he added.

Read more May 9 riots: Military courts to take up cases against 16 miscreants

Earlier this week, in a video message posted on Twitter, the former interior minister condemned the attacks on military installations during May 9 and 10 protests that followed Imran’s arrest. But, added the former minister, as long as Imran is “fighting this battle” he would stand by him.

pic.twitter.com/YFIB1TQdzF

— Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (@ShkhRasheed) May 28, 2023

“I am not a coward, I maintain friendships and enmities till death,” said Rashid, whose diplomatic passport was revoked by the federal government on May 27, 2023.

The former interior minister alleged that law enforcement authorities have been raiding the houses of sisters, nephews, brothers and deceased mother for the past 20 days while three men have been engaged to eliminate him. “I want to tell the nation that I have the right to defend myself. I have written to the real government officials of Pakistan.”