Imran Khan’s key ally and leader of Awami Muslim League Sheikh Rashid arrested in Pakistan

Islamabad, September 17

Pakistani authorities on Sunday arrested Sheikh Rashid, a key ally of former premier Imran Khan and leader of Awami Muslim League, for his alleged involvement in corruption, said his nephew.

Rashid, 72, and two of his aides were arrested from his residence in Bahria Town of Rawalpindi and shifted to an undisclosed location, his nephew Sheikh Rashid Shafiq said in a video message.

“I request the top judiciary to take notice of the arrest of a senior politician as he was not wanted in any case,” Sheikh Shafiq said, adding that his elder brother and a servant was also arrested by police.

The details of the charges against Rashid have not been released so far.

Rashid, who is the head of AML party, remained a staunch ally of former prime minister Khan and was appointed as interior minister during his government.

In a tweet on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf condemned Rashid’s arrest.

“The political victimisation and fascism continues, this time with the arrest of Sheikh Rashid,” it said.

Rashid’s arrest seems to be part of the crackdown unleashed after the May 9 violence by the PTI workers who torched several state buildings, including the official residence of Corps Commander Lahore.

Earlier this year in June, the AML leader had alleged that the Islamabad police broke into his house and beat up his servants.

He had also claimed that in a second incident, a “force clad in plain clothes” tortured his employees at his Lal Haveli residence in Rawalpindi.