Awami Muslim League (AML) leader and PTI ally Sheikh Rashid was arrested from his residence in Rawalpindi on Sunday evening, his lawyer Sardar Abdul Razzak Khan confirmed to Dawn.com.

“Men clad in plain clothes arrested Sheikh Rashid from his residence,” he said, claiming that the former interior minister had been moved to an “undisclosed location”.

Khan said Rashid’s nephew Sheikh Shakir and houseworker Sheikh Imran have also been arrested.

Separately, in a video message, the AML leader’s nephew Sheikh Rashid Shafiq said his uncle was arrested by the Punjab police from Bahria Town Phase III in Rawalpindi and his current whereabouts were unknown.

“Both the Islamabad and Punjab police have told the high courts in writing that Sheikh Rashid is not proclaimed in any case,” he said.

Shafiq also requested the higher courts to take notice of the arrest and find out where his uncle was taken. “We will fight the legal battle and have always indulged in politics of principles,” he added.

In a post on social media platform X, the PTI condemned Rashid’s arrest. “The political victimisation and fascism continues, this time with the arrest of Sheikh Rashid,” it said.

Rashid’s arrest comes amid the state’s crackdown on the PTI and its supporters following incidents of vandalism on May 9 — when party chairman Imran Khan was first arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court.

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.