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 November 2.
Sheikh Rashid is scheduled to address a rally at the Rawalpindi Ground on Friday, but efforts have been accelerated to refrain him. The federal government has already implemented Section 144 in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi which bars public gatherings and the use of loudspeakers.
However, Sheikh 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 on, while speaking to a private news channel, 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 that 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 have been active and had 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, 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 check-posts established at all entry point of the city and buses depots as the crackdown has intensified in the twin cities.
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