LHC grants pre-arrest bail to Rashid

RAWALPINDI: Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz on Friday approved the pre-arrest bail of former interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in a blasphemy case till May 18.

Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had filed a petition in the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court, seeking pre-arrest bail.The court held a brief hearing and granted him interim bail till May 18.

Reliable sources said Justice Shahzad Ahmed Khan had refused to hear the petition.The court also issued notices to the parties concerned on the petitions filed by Sheikh Rashid and his nephew Rashid Shafiq for registration of cases.

Earlier, cases were registered against Sheikh Rashid in nine cities including Faisalabad, Gujjar Khan, Rawalpindi and Attock while his nephew Sheikh Rashid Shafiq had already been arrested in cases on account of sacrilege of Masjid-e-Nabvi.

Sheikh Rashid had also submitted an application to the Kohsar Police Station, saying that he is receiving threats from Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and others and his life is in danger. He said, “If I am killed, Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, Hamza Shehbaz, Rana Sanaullah, Hussain Nawaz, Mian Nawaz and Salman Shehbaz should be interrogated.”