Former interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Sunday alleged that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders were planning to kill him, adding that they were also trying to attack Imran Khan’s planned long march to Islamabad.
Talking to reporters in Islamabad, Rashid said his life was in danger because the Sharif family and other PML-N leaders wanted to get rid of him.
“I have lodged a case against seven people at the Secretariat Police Station, as my life is in danger,” he said. “I have also written a letter to the top five institutions of Pakistan, in which I stated that if anything happens to me, these seven individuals, including Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, Hamza Shahbaz and Rana Sanaullah, must be questioned.”
The former interior minister said that as soon as the PML-N came into power, they removed the names of a hundred people from the Exit Control List (ECL).
“I request the army to scrutinise the list of people who have been removed from the ECL”.
He said the PML-N, soon after forming a government, started transferring all those who had initiated investigations against them.
“They are coming up with fake cases against [PTI] members, putting a burden on the judiciary,” he said. “Now it’s upon the court to serve justice.”
Rashid then criticised Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah and said that “this man will push this country into civil war; therefore, he should be stopped”.
How could they make this lunatic the interior minister of the country, Rashid wondered. “This man only wants bloodshed.”
Talking about the unfortunate incident that took place at the Masjid-e-Nabwi (PBUH) in Madina — where a group of people chanted slogans against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, and Minister for Narcotics Control Shahzain Bugti — Rashid said the incident was regrettable.
About the leaders of other political parties, he said that Shehbaz Sharif resorted to his “flagrant bootlicking” of the army 14 times, while Asif Ali Zardari was responsible for spreading corruption in Punjab.
To a question about his nephew Rashid Shafiq, who has been arrested at the Islamabad airport upon his arrival from Saudi Arabia in connection with the incident of sloganeering at Masjid-e-Nabwi (PBUH), Rashid said that it was “good” that he had been thrown into jail.
“I am not begging for his bail,” the former minister said, adding that it would be good for Rashid Shafiq to stay behind bars for 15 days, as it will be his first time in prison.”
