Former Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid’s nephew Rashid Shafiq, who was arrested in connection with the Masjid-e-Nabwi case on Sunday, was granted a two-day physical remand by a district court in Attock on Monday.
Shafiq and Sheikh, who is also the leader of the Awami Muslim League (AML), appeared in court earlier today after the police requested Rashid Shafiq’s physical remand.
Judicial Magistrate Jamal Mehmood agreed to the request and granted the police a two-day remand of Rashid Shafiq, ordering the suspect to appear in court on the second day of Eid. According to reports, outside the court, strict security arrangements were put in place as a large number of PTI workers chanted slogans in support of Sheikh Rashid.
Leaders of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly, Zulfi Bukhari, Haleem Adil Sheikh, and others were also present to show their support for the AML leader.
An FIR was filed against Shafiq and former ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders in Faisalabad over the recent incident of pilgrims surrounding Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s delegation in Masjid-e-Nabwi on Sunday at the Islamabad Airport.
He was later remanded in custody of New Airport police for a day on charges of posting a video on social media in which he was seen encouraging people who chanted slogans against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his delegation inside the Masjid-i-Nabwi premises.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Shahbaz Gill, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Fawad Chaudhry, Qasim Suri, Sahibzada Jahangir, and Aneel Musarrat were among the 150 people named in the FIR.
Sections 295, 295-A, 296, and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code were used to file the charges. The sections deal with causing damage to a place of worship with the intent of insulting a religion, outraging religious sentiment with deliberate and malicious intent, disturbing religious assembly, and abetment.