Sheikh Rashid resurfaces after ‘mysterious chilla’

ISLAMABAD: Resurfacing after over a month’s disappearance, Awami Muslim League (AML) chief and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ally Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Friday he had suggested to the PTI that they should not engage in a dispute with the establishment.

Speaking to a private news channel, he said he had requested Imran Khan to include him in the parleys with the army, but the former prime minister refused. “He [PTI chairman] is a stubborn politician,” Sheikh Rashid said and admitted that messing with Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir was their mistake. He sought a pardon for common people involved in the May 9 incidents.

Rashid said that followers of the PTI chairman believe that they had supporters inside the army.

“Twitter drowned me. I was shown that I have said these things,” Rashid said, adding that he did not run the account on the microblogging site — now known as X — but all of the statements were his own. He said that nothing came out against him except the tweets.

The former federal minister came to the fore a day after the Lahore High Court (LHC) gave the police time till October 26 to recover the senior politician, whose whereabouts had not been traced since his apparent arrest last month.

Rashid was arrested from Rawalpindi on Sept 17, his counsel Sardar Abdul Razaq revealed the same day.

The former interior minister claimed that he had been on a ‘chilla’ for the last 40 days.

While referring to his nephew, he said Rashid Shafique was like his son.

“I couldn’t tell Rashid [Shafique about the chilla] that’s why he might have gotten worried,” the AML chief said. He added that these 40 days were spent well.

The PTI chairman’s ally also said that he had the opportunity to reflect on many things during the chilla. No one caused any harm during this period, he insisted.

“Even today, I stand with the army. I suggested to the PTI chairman as well that one should keep good terms with the army,” Rashid said.

Talking about the May 9 mayhem, the former federal minister said that he was outside the country during the incidents of violence that followed Khan’s arrest.

Rashid said that no politician should take the names of any army officer, adding that all the three people who were holding talks with the army for the PTI chief had made their own party.

“I am not point-scoring; I have spent time in the chilla, but the country cannot function without institutions,” he said, adding that politicians and the institutions should work together. The Khan’s aide also said that he would contest the elections but “God knows” if he will get the required support or not.