Sheikh Rashid expected to be arrested: sources

RAWALPINDI: The government of Punjab is expected to arrest Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the chief of the Awami Muslim League, ahead of the lockdown of Islamabad on 2nd November.

Sheikh Rashid is also scheduled to address a rally at the Rawalpindi Ground on Friday, but efforts have been expedited to refrain him. The federal government has already implemented Section 144 in the twin cities which bars public gatherings and the use of loudspeakers.

However, Rashid is undeterred and has vowed to violate the ban on his public gathering tomorrow. “I will tear the Section 144 in 144 pieces,” he said. He said that the Lal Haveli has the ability to bring down the government and they will take the government to its logical end.

Later, while speaking to ARY News he said that they will even lockdown Rawalpindi. “I am aware the decision to arrest me was taken in the Prime Minister House, but I am not afraid of them,” he said.

He vowed he will attend the public gathering tomorrow and warned the government from attempting to stop him saying that the situation will spiral out of control. “The masterminds of my arrest are with the Prime Minister,” said Rashid.

The Rawalpindi police has been active and has raided the houses of several leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the AML and have arrested more than 55 people including several local leaders including Rashid Hafeez, Arif Abbassi, Haji Pervaiz, Chaudhry Ashgar and Faiz-ul-Hassan Chauhan. Police also raided house of Rashid Shafiq, a nephew of Sheikh Rashid who managed to evade arrest.

The posters of the PTI and Sheikh Rashid have also been torn down from Muree Road and several others major thoroughfares of the city. Fourteen activists of the PTI were taken into custody from a hotel in Faizabad. There are chekposts established at all entry point of the city and buses depots as the crackdown has intensified in the twin cities.