Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s ordeal continues, arrested shortly after release from Adiala

RAWALPINDI, Sep 16 (SABAH): The ordeal of former Punjab chief minister and President Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chaudhry Parvez Elahi continued on Saturday after he was arrested again shortly after being released from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.

Parvez Elahi was taken into custody by Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab while he was on his way to Lahore.

Elahi’s counsel, Sardar Abdul Razzaq, said that the PTI stalwart has now been arrested at least a dozen times.

After the arrest, the PTI president was produced in a local court in Islamabad where he was granted a one-day transit remand at the request of the anti-corruption authorities. The court ordered that they should produce him before the concerned court by today (Sunday).

Sardar Abdul Razzaq added that Elahi will be transferred to Lahore on his transit remand. “The anti-corruption cell took Elahi from the judicial complex and left for Lahore,” he stated.

Razzaq also claimed that the PTI president wasn’t ready to hold any press conference – a reference to the practice followed by those party leaders and activists who renounce their association with the imprisoned PTI chairman and his policies.

A day earlier, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) approved Elahi’s bail in the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC) riot case.

The ATC Judge Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain granted bail to the PTI central president against surety bonds worth Rs20,000, ordering his release. The court remarked that the prosecution failed to find any evidence against Elahi during his lengthy remand and that the accused should not be investigated further.

Following his multiple arrests, Elahi stated that he had decided to file a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to avoid arrests in any further cases. “Razzaq will file a plea shortly to avoid any further rearrests.”

There was a clash between the police and the PTI on March 18 amid party Chairman Imran Khan’s appearance at the FJC for a hearing of the Toshakhana case.

On Sept 5, five months after the incident, Elahi was arrested in the FJC case hours after the IHC had suspended his detention under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance and directed his release.

An ATC had granted the police a two-day physical remand of the former Punjab chief minister and later sent him to jail on a 14-day judicial remand in the FJC attack case.