Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President and former Punjab chief minister, Parvez Elahi, once again found himself in a legal quagmire as he was taken into custody by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police shortly after the Lahore High Court (LHC) had ordered his release.
According to the police, the former Punjab chief minister was apprehended based on the orders of the district magistrate under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).
Section 3 of the MPO grants the government the authority to arrest and detain individuals when it deems necessary to prevent actions detrimental to public safety or the maintenance of public order. This detention can be extended for up to six months at a time.
Elahi is among several PTI leaders who have faced detention under the MPO as part of the government’s crackdown on the party following the May 9 riots.
His latest arrest came mere hours after the LHC had instructed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to release the PTI president and barred authorities from arresting him in any case.
Earlier in the day, Moonis Elahi, the former chief minister’s son, claimed that his father was “abducted” from outside their Lahore residence.
He stated that after the high court’s orders and under the judge’s instructions, the police, including court security, were escorting his father home when their vehicle was stopped, and Parvez Elahi was taken against his will.
Parvez Elahi’s legal troubles began on June 1 when he was initially arrested outside his Lahore residence by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on allegations of kickbacks in development projects. He was subsequently discharged by a Lahore court but rearrested by the ACE the following day in a similar case in Gujranwala. However, a Gujranwala court discharged him in two corruption cases related to fund embezzlement on June 3.
Despite these discharges, the ACE arrested Elahi again, this time on charges of “illegal recruitments” in the Punjab Assembly.
On June 9, a special anti-corruption court granted the ACE a “last opportunity” to present the record of the illegal appointments case. On the same day, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) initiated another inquiry against Elahi for alleged embezzlement in development projects in Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin.
After a sessions court overturned a judicial magistrate’s decision to acquit Elahi in the embezzlement case on June 12, he was sent to judicial lockup following the suspension of the sessions court’s order by the LHC.
On June 20, Elahi obtained relief from an anti-corruption court in Lahore, but his release orders were not conveyed to the prison administration. On the same day, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) filed money laundering charges against him, his son Moonis Elahi, and three others.
The next day, the FIA arrested him from jail, placing him on a 14-day judicial remand in the money laundering case. On June 26, a Lahore district court once again remanded Elahi to jail for 14 days in connection with the money laundering case after the FIA arrested him outside the Camp Jail.
On July 4, a Lahore anti-terrorism court dismissed Elahi’s post-arrest bail plea in a case related to an attack on a police team that had raided his residence during an ACE inquiry.
Approximately a week later, the LHC instructed the Inspector General of Prisons to address Elahi’s complaints about inadequate facilities in jail.
On July 12, a Lahore sessions court dismissed an FIA plea against the denial of Elahi’s physical remand in a case involving unexplained banking transactions.
Two days later, the LHC prohibited the police and the ACE from arresting the former Punjab chief minister in any undisclosed case. Nevertheless, he was subsequently detained at Lahore’s Camp Jail under Section 3 of the MPO.
Upon the conclusion of his MPO detention, the Lahore NAB team took Elahi into custody from Adiala Jail in connection with a graft case.
