RAWALPINDI: Former interior minister and Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Saturday said the Islamabad police raided his residence in the capital at midnight while he was at Lal Haveli in Rawalpindi.

He said the police wanted to arrest him in connection with the protests held by the PTI following Imran Khan’s disqualification by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday.

In a tweet, he also welcomed the decision of Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa not to take further extension.

He said the decision about general elections will be made on roads or on the table; it will be decided before November 30.

Mr Ahmed said the credit to remove Pakistan from the grey list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) goes to former prime minister Imran Khan’s government and all the institutions.

He also claimed that disqualification of Imran Khan by the ECP will be overturned in one hearing of the SC or the high court.

This verdict is unconstitutional. “People who run away from jails want Imran Khan to be in jail,” he said.

He said the whole nation was awaiting Supreme Court’s verdict on NAB amendment ordinance.

Talking to newsmen at the inauguration of Rawalpindi Institute of Urology (RIU), the AML chief said the decision of the ECP to disqualify the PTI chief had many flaws. He said the government did not deliver in the last many months and there was a dire need to get rid of this ‘imported government’.

He said time had come for Imran Khan to announce a date for the long march to Islamabad to send the rulers home.

He said that in the United Kingdom the prime minister resigned in 40 or 44 days after being unable to control inflation, but in Pakistan the rulers failed to provide any relief to the masses and were not ready to quit.

He said the PTI held negotiations with other political parties on the one-point agenda of early elections.

Punjab and KP assemblies would be dissolved within seconds if we got a date for early elections. Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Ellahi and KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan would act on Imran Khan’s directives to dissolve assemblies, he added.

He said he had advised Imran Khan to start agitation even if four people would come to the streets.

Published in Dawn, October 23th, 2022