Sheikh Rashid asks president to announce election date or step down

LAHORE: Former interior minister and Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Sunday that President Dr Arif Alvi should either announce the election date tomorrow (on Monday) or step down from his position, local media reported.

Talking to the media in Lahore, Sheikh Rashid said President Alvi holds the highest constitutional post, and has complete authority to announce the date of the elections.

Rashid said he was in Lahore to meet Imran Khan and that he was ready to get arrested on February 22 as part of the Jail Bharo Tehreek, if the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief ordered. Rashid said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had not earned respect by pushing the country into crisis, adding the elections will be held together in the provinces and the centre.

Rashid claimed on Sunday that elections for the national and provincial assemblies will be held on the same date. He also claimed that the ‘country’s fate’ would be decided by April 30, adding that after Allah only the Supreme Court could save Pakistan.

The former minister said he had been ‘reborn’ as a new Sheikh Rashid after being kept in prison on false charges. He also said that he forgives his imprisonment and the hideouts he was taken to with his eyes blindfolded belonged to the ‘institutions’.

Referring to Khawaja Asif’s statement about Pakistan having already defaulted, he said that the defence minister has given a significant statement at a sensitive time. Rashid was recently released after a two-week-long captivity in Adiala jail. He was accused of making allegations against Asif Ali Zardari of being involved in an attempt to assassinate Imran Khan. During captivity, he had alleged that his house had been ransacked by police officials and that he had been offered meetings with ‘important personalities’.