ISLAMABAD: Former federal minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed’s nephew Sheikh Rashid Shafiq was arrested at the Islamabad airport upon his arrival from Saudi Arabia in the wee hours of Sunday.
The arrest has been made in connection with the incident of slogan chanting at Masjid-e-Nabawi against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his delegation.
Sources affiliated with the airport staff said that Shafiq travelled to Pakistan through a private airline.
Rashid confirmed his nephew’s arrest, saying that he had just landed in Pakistan after performing Umrah when he was arrested.
“None of us were in Saudi Arabia, but cases were still registered [against us]. Residences are being raided after the registration of the cases,” Rashid said, condemning the arrest.
He further stated that people would “harass them wherever they went”.
Masjid-e-Nabawi incident
PM Shehbaz and his delegation had reached Saudi Arabia on Thursday for a three-day official visit at the invitation of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Shahzain Bugti, Mohsin Dawar, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi, Chaudhry Salik, and four members of PM Shehbaz Sharif’s staff were accompanying the prime minister on his visit.
But as Marriyum Aurangzeb and Shahzain Bugti arrived at the mosque, the protesters started chanting slogans of “chor, chor (thieves)” when they saw theme premier and harassed and raised objectionable slogans.
The protesters had also misbehaved with the JWP chief Shahzain Bugti and pulled his hair.
The protesters filmed the entire episode with their mobile phones.
