• A second FIR has been filed against Sheikh Rashid.
• He is charged with threatening cops of serious consequences. 
• Minister is in police custody for serious allegations against Zardari.

Another case has been filed against former interior minister Sheikh Rashid at a police station in Murree for interfering in official affairs, Geo News reported.

The former minister, who is an ally of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, was arrested in the early hours of Thursday [February 2] from Murree Motorway. The arrest sparked criticism from the former premier, Imran Khan.

The first information report (FIR) was lodged at the complaint of investigation officer Ashiq Ali, from the Aabpara police station, Islamabad. Sheikh Rashid threatened the police personnel and stated that he would not spare them, according to the FIR.

The FIR was registered under Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Pakistan, charging Sheikh Rashid with interfering in official affairs and resisting his arrest. The FIR states that the former minister physically pushed and abused the police officers and threatened them with serious consequences at gunpoint.

Besides the former minister, his two employees have also been implicated in the case.

The FIR states that when the police arrived at Sheikh Rashid’s residence, he came out with his armed servants and resisted police efforts while threatening them. He was told that he was booked under three sections of the Pakistan Penal Code — 120B (criminal conspiracy), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), read the FIR.

After that, he started resisting and interfering in the official affairs of the police, while threatening them with serious consequences at gunpoint.

Abusing the policemen, Sheikh Rashid said he had been a minister several times and that he would not spare them, read the FIR. Hence, he committed an offence under Section 506ii (threatening to cause death or grievous hurt], 353 [Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty] and 186 [Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions].

The arrest

The police claimed to arrest Rashid from Murree Road in the wee hours of Thursday. However, the former interior minister and his nephew, Sheikh Rashid Shafiq, contradicted the police’s version and said that the authorities took him into custody from his house in Rawalpindi and not the motorway.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Rawalpindi Division President Raja Inayat Ur Rehman had filed a case against Rashid in Islamabad’s Aabpara Police Station for alleging that former president Asif Ali Zardari was hatching a plot to assassinate the PTI chief.

In the FIR, the PPP divisional president stated that the AML chief tried to badmouth a former president and cause a “permanent danger” to the PPP co-chairman and his family.