ISLAMABAD: PTI President Ch Pervaiz Elahi on Saturday challenged his arrest under the MPO while the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) condemned the “manhandling and re-arrest” of Ch Pervaiz Elahi against the directives of Lahore High Court (LHC).
On the other hand, PTI President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, who had been arrested by the Islamabad Police from Lahore on Friday, was shifted to Attock Jail late at night.
Former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has challenged his arrest under the MPO and filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court through his lawyer Abdul Raziq.
Through the petition, Ch Pervaiz Elahi sought to annul the arrest under the MPO shortly after the LHC granted him bail and directed the authorities against arresting him in any other case. The petition further stated that the PTI president was being targeted for taking revenge on political grounds.
The MPO order of September 1 is illegal, should be declared null and void and Parvez Elahi ordered to be released, the petitioner requested. On the other hand, Pervez Elahi’s wife has filed a contempt of court petition in the Lahore High Court for not shifting her husband home safely despite the LHC orders.
The petition has made the DIG operations, DIG investigation and SP high court security parties in the petition. The petition was filed on behalf of the former chief minister’s wife Qaisara Elahi. She has requested the chief justice of the Lahore High Court to schedule the petition for hearing today.
The PTI president and former chief minister, who was rearrested shortly after the release order from the Lahore High Court in a corruption case, was shifted to Attock Jail later on Friday. The Islamabad police arrested Elahi on Lahore’s Canal Road when he was heading towards his home following his release by the court.
The PTI president was arrested under Section 3 of the MPO (Maintenance of Public Order), the police said. Earlier on Friday, the LHC ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to release Elahi and also prevented his arrest in any ongoing or future cases.
Soon after he was shifted to Islamabad, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Islamabad ordered his detention for a period of 15 days under 3MPO.
Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan is already in the Attock Jail.
On arrival, a three-member team of doctors carried out medical examination of the former chief minister.
‘Re-arrest of Pervez Elahi condemnable’
The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Saturday said that the manhandling and re-arrest of PTI President Parvez Elahi against the directives of Lahore High Court’s (LHC) is condemnable.
The LHC on Friday had directed release of Elahi besides issuing orders restraining his possible arrest by any agency or preventive detention.
In a statement, PBC Vice-Chairman Haroonur Rashid and Executive Committee Chairman Hassan Raza Pasha, “strongly condemned the manhandling and the way” in which Elahi was re-arrested, as well as his confinement under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).
It said the re-arrest was made “while disregarding and non-complying” the LHC’s order wherein it had “categorically ordered not to re-arrest him in any case”.
The PBC expressed concerns that the arrest “raised questions about the rule of law and the power dynamics in Pakistan’s political landscape”.
Stressing the necessity to obey and implement court orders and upholding the Constitution, the council stated that the courts “should take care while deciding political matters whether orders passed therein could be implemented or not”.
