Lahore: Pakistan police on Saturday booked former Chief Minister of Punjab province and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi on terrorism charges and arrested 25 others for resisting his arrest.
An operation was launched by the Lahore police at Friday midnight, in which around 500 policemen and anti-corruption personnel raided Elahi’s Lahore residence to arrest him in a corruption case.
The operation ended early on Saturday after continuing for over five hours as police failed to arrest Elahi, who fled the house before the force’s arrival.
“The police registered a case against Elahi and 50 others under terrorism charges for allegedly attacking them with stones and petrol,” Anti-Corruption Establishment spokesperson, Shahida Kamal, told PTI.
“Of them, 25 have been arrested and presented before a court which sent them on physical remand.
The raiding team used an armoured vehicle to break open the main gate of the PTI Punjab provincial president’s Gulberg area residence and arrested 25 people, mostly his employees, from the house.
According to Kamal, raids are underway to arrest Elahi in a corruption case.
Elahi’s legal team said police raided his house despite them showing his protective bail till May 6 in the case.
The ousted prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan strongly condemned the attack on his party’s president’s house.
“Strongly condemn the illegal raid on Pervez Elahi’s home with no respect to the women & family members present. We are seeing the dismantling of democracy in Pakistan before our eyes. There is no respect for Constitution, Supreme Court verdicts, or fundamental rights of the ppl – only law of jungle & fascism,” Khan said in a series of tweets.
“All part of London Plan to demoralise & crush PTI. They attacked my house & now the same is being done to Pervez Elahi by a cabal of crooks & handlers. Never seen such barbarism, even in Musharraf’s martial law. Has the State dared to break into the homes of the looters & money laundering Sharif & Zardari families in this manner? Enough is enough,” he said.
Khan announced providing a roadmap to the nation on how to stand up against the destruction of the Constitution and democracy.
Elahi’s son and former federal minister Moonis Elahi agreed with Khan saying that the rule of law has ended in Pakistan.
His other son Rasikh Elahi moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday against the late-night police action, according to Geo News.
The petition termed the late-night raid “illegal and a violation of fundamental rights” and added that the court had granted bail to Elahi in the anti-corruption case till May 6.
According to the Dawn newspaper, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry condemned the raid on Elahi’s house and said that the party would hold a meeting to decide whether or not to continue the ongoing talks with the government regarding the election date.
Pakistan’s opposition party and the ruling coalition led by PML-N on Friday failed to make a breakthrough in holding general elections.
The second round of talks was held in the backdrop of the controversy with Khan’s PTI seeking early polls — particularly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where assemblies were dissolved in January — and the government maintaining that elections across the country be held on the same day in October.
The two sides exchanged proposals and agreed to meet again on Tuesday to end the political uncertainty plaguing the cash-strapped country.
