LAHORE: In an interesting sequence of events, the Police assault on the residence of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was smartly diverted towards the residence of former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain who is an ally of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Though caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi has taken notice of the police assault at Shujaat’s residence and subsequent injuries to federal minister Salik Hussain and others who got injured due to the police mishandling, Chaudhry Shujaat wants the matter needs to be probed into thoroughly to help ascertain the facts behind the assault at his residence.
Reliable sources in Chaudhry family have informed Pakistan Today that an Anti-Corruption team escorted by Punjab Police had arrived at the residence of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi for investigation but the employees locked the gate and the situation aggravated into a police encounter.
While the police action started, the sources said that a sister of Chaudhry Shujaat misled the police about whereabouts of Pervaiz Elahi, pointing out that Elahi was present inside Shujaat’s residence.
“Hence, the police action swiftly was diverted from Elahi’s residence to Shujaat’s residence – both are side by side at Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi Road. The police tried to break into Shujaat’s house despite being informed about the presence of federal minister Salik Hussain and other lawmakers but to no avail,” the sources said.
The sources said that the situation aggravated to a point that Salik had to himself come to the gate and speak to police officers but they insisting on breaking into the house. Subsequently, the police smashed the door, injuring Salik and his brother who had multiple stiches on their hand, the sources added.
When contacted, Federal Minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain confirmed the information.
“The police blatantly violated the sanctity of our house and despite being informed time and again, they broke into our house and we sustained injures. I am in shock not at police action as this is what they do. But I am shocked at what my close relatives did to us,” he said referring to the misinformation passed onto police by his aunt.
Salik said that his parents were inside and he refused to allow the police inside as the police looked hell-bent to break into his father’s house without any warrant or valid document.
“My aunt also asked me to open the door and when I asked the reason, she said that Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was inside with Chaudhry Shujaat and the police wanted to arrest him. I laughed off the allegation and told the police that my aunt was lying and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was not inside my house but the police refused to trust me,” he added.
The minister said he had sustained eight stitches to his hand but didn’t allow the police to barge into his parent’s house without any valid reason.
Salik also took a jibe at Moonis Elahi and said that the cyber warrior was not even visible when the police raided his residence but now was playing victimhood to attract sympathies.
“Look at the cyber warrior who keeps tweeting all the time from abroad. And when the police came to arrest his father, the other brother also fled from the scene and didn’t appear anywhere. It was me and my family members who faced police brutality, got inured but didn’t allow the police to enter our residence,” he asserted.
He alleged that the Elahi family were hurling threats to his family. He lamented that politicians needed to sit down and resolve not to victimize the opposition on political grounds.
