LHC gives police more time till Oct 26 to recover Sheikh Rashid

The Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Thursday granted police more time till October 26 to recover Awami Muslim League chief and PTI ally Sheikh Rashid, whose whereabouts haven’t been traced since his arrest last month.

He was arrested from his residence in Rawalpindi on September 17 according to his lawyer Sardar Abdul Razzak Khan.

“Men in plain clothes arrested Sheikh Rashid from his residence,” the lawyer had said, claiming that the former interior minister had been moved to an “undisclosed location”.

The next day on Sep 18 Rashid’s nephew had filed a petition in LHC’s same bench seeking direction to the police to produce his uncle, a brother and two servants.

On Sep 21, the Evacuee Trust Property Board had sealed Lal Haveli – the political office and public secretariat of Rashid Ahmed – after the board chairman cancelled the registry of the building.

The LHC on Sep 22 summoned Rawalpindi Regional Police Officer (RPO) Syed Khurram Ali on September 26 regarding the former lawmaker’s arrest.

During the hearing, Additional Attorney General Malik Siddique Awan had presented City Police Officer (CPO) Khalid Hamdani’s report to the court which stated that Rashid was neither in their custody nor had he been arrested by the Rawalpindi police.

The report had added that the case fell under the Islamabad police’s jurisdiction.

On Sep 26, while Rashid’s lawyer had argued before the court that his client was arrested by the Rawalpindi police, the latter denied having the politician in their custody.

The court had then directed the police to locate the AML chief’s whereabouts and asked the law enforcement agency to make an all-out effort for his recovery.

On Oct 2, the same bench had warned that a case would be registered against police officers if the former interior minister was not produced within one week.

Later on Oct 11, the LHC’s Pindi bench had ordered the registration of a case against the top police officers of the garrison city over their failure to trace the whereabouts of Rashid.

A one-judge bench headed by Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan resumed hearing the case today.

RPO Khurram Ali again submitted a report to the court regarding Rashid’s alleged arrest.

“Sheikh Rashid Ahmed is not in police custody,” he said. “CPO Khalid Hamdani and SSP Faisal Salem are not involved in his arrest.”

He requested the court for more time. “We are trying, give us time and we will recover him.”

Accepting the request, Justice Khan again ordered the police authorities to produce the former security czar till the next hearing after a week on Oct 26.