Parvez Elahi arrested again shortly after IHC ordered his release
ISLAMABAD, Sep 5 (SABAH): Former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi was
arrested again shortly after the Islamabad High Court ordered his release.
Elahi was arrested from outside the Islamabad Police Lines hours after the
Islamabad High Court suspended his detention order. He was arrested by
the Counter-Terrorism Department in a case registered at the CTD police
station of Islamabad. Police said a team of the CTD had arrested him.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf also took to Twitter and
condemned the arrest of the former chief minister.
Earlier, declaring detention of Chaudhry Parvez Elahi under the Maintenance
of Public Order-III (MPO 3) null and void, the IHC ordered immediate release
of the PTI leader and issued notices to both parties. IHC's Justice Tariq
Mehmood Jahangiri conducted hearing of the case.
The court ordered the authorities to produce Parvez Elahi on the next date of
hearing. Until the next hearing, Parvez Elahi should not be part of any
provocative activity, the court said. The court further said Elahi would not
issue any statement to media till the next date of hearing.
Pervez Elahi's lawyer told the court that the Lahore High Court had ordered
release of Elahi on Sept 1. The LHC barred law-enforcement agencies from
arresting the PTI president in any other case. However, the Islamabad police
violated the order of the Lahore High Court and arrested the former chief
minister.
The counsel for Elahi further said the former chief minister was "snatched"
from the Lahore police and brought to Islamabad. The officials dressed in
plainclothes picked him up and put him in the car. Later, the Islamabad
High Court annulled Parvez Elahi's arrest under MPO 3 and ordered his
immediate release.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday had issued a show-cause notice to
Islamabad IGP Dr Akbar Nasir Khan during hearing of a plea for production
of PTI President Parvez Elahi in court.
Elahi was rearrested by Islamabad police near his residence shortly after the
LHC released him with a restraining order against any potential arrest by a
government agency or preventive detention.
The arrest took place when an Islamabad police team, assisted by Lahore
police, intercepted a white SUV in which Elahi was traveling with his lawyer,
Sardar Latif Khosa, on their way to his home. They forcefully transferred him
into an unmarked white car. This arrest was captured on camera and widely
shared on social media, drawing condemnation from various quarters,
including the Pakistan Bar Council.