File photo. Farooq Naeem—AFP
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday barred police from acting against Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in cases registered against him in Lasbela and Karachi.
Issuing the orders against a petition filed by Ahmed over the registration of cases against him in Sindh, IHC Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri questioned how a case was registered in Karachi over a statement given by the former interior minister in Islamabad. Similarly, he questioned how multiple FIRs could be registered in different cities nationwide over the same incident.
Rashid’s counsel noted that in addition to the cases in Islamabad and Karachi, his client was also facing a case in Murree. “Has the arrest been made in all three cases?” the judge asked, to which the lawyer said the arrest was only over one case. To this, Justice Jahangiri said that under law an arrest in one case was considered arrest in all pending cases.
During proceedings, the AML chief’s lawyer claimed that his client had been “tied to a chair for six hours” at an unidentified location, adding he was asked “political questions” and “tortured.” The court noted similar allegations were levelled by people Ahmed had sought to arrest during his tenure as interior minister. Justice Jahangiri then barred police from taking action against Rashid in cases registered against him in Karachi and Lasbela and issued notices to bar councils, the attorney general and advocate general of Islamabad before adjourning proceedings until Feb. 9.
The AML chief is currently in Adiala Jail on judicial remand for 14 days.
Ahmed was taken into custody last week over remarks in which he had alleged that former president Asif Ali Zardari had hired, in collusion with “agencies,” a terrorist outfit to assassinated PTI chief Imran Khan. A day after his arrest, Muree Police also registered a case against him. The case in Karachi—filed under Sections 153-A, 500, 504 and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code—was registered for using “filthy” language against Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.