Daily Times

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

Additional Sessions Judge Tahir Abbas Supra heard the application in the case against the senior politician for levelling murder plot allegations against former president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chair Asif Ali Zardari.

Sheikh Rashid’s lawyers Sardar Abdul Razzaq and Intizar Panjotha, prosecutor Adnan and the plaintiff’s lawyer appeared in court. During the hearing, Advocate Razzaq said that according to the FIR, Rashid’s statement regarding PPP co-chair 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. However, Advocate Razzaq argued that” this can only be a case of defamation”, adding that senior advocate Latif Khosa has sent a defamation notice.

The court questioned why the investigating officer had not investigated Imran Khan. On this, the plaintiff’s lawyer requested to conduct an investigation involving 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 not been any. 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.

Last week, the Islamabad police had 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.