LAHORE: A district and sessions court in Islamabad has rejected a request for post-arrest bail made by Awami Muslim League (AML) chairman Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad in a string of sedition and defamation cases registered against him across the country.
The former interior minister is also charged with accusing former president Asif Ali Zardari of plotting to assassinate Khan, and was arrested by Islamabad police on February 2.
This case was filed by Rawalpindi president of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Raja Inayat ur-Rehman, and includes charges of criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity between different groups, and statements conducing to public mischief.
The court initially remanded Ahmad to police custody for two days, after which he was sent on a two-week judicial remand.
His first post-arrest bail petition was also dismissed by the court on February 6. He is currently in the custody of Murree police, who were granted a one-day transit remand by a sessions court in Islamabad.
The hearing on Thursday was presided over by Additional Sessions Judge Tahir Abbas Supra while Ahmad was represented by lawyers Sardar Abdul Raziq and Intizar Panjhota.
Following the rejection of the bail plea, his legal team has decided to challenge the verdict in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and will file another bail application once they receive the detailed order.
Ahmad’s lawyers argued that the FIR registered in the case was a result of a planned conspiracy and that the sections mentioned in the complaint could only be filed by the federal or provincial government, not by a private citizen.
The lawyers also claimed that Ahmad had only mentioned what Khan had told him and that Khan had made a similar statement but faced no action.
The prosecutor in the case argued that Ahmad’s statement was “extremely inciteful” and that he had committed a crime that could lead to a punishment of up to seven years. The judge asked the prosecutor if Ahmad’s statement had an impact on the entire nation, to which the prosecutor replied that it was indeed so.
The judge also questioned the investigation officer (IO) about why Khan was not included in the investigation, given that Ahmad had claimed that Khan had told him about the alleged conspiracy.
The IO replied that Khan was not included as there was no evidence for Ahmad’s statement. The judge then ordered that Khan be investigated for making “false allegations”.
The petitioner’s lawyer argued that Ahmad and Khan were conspiring against Zardari and that the former’s bail should not be accepted as he was creating incitement between the two political parties.
