- Ex-CM slams arrest of Punjab Assembly Secretary Muhammad Khan Bhatti.
- “Caretaker government is violating sanctity of chadar aur char dewari.”
- Elahi says people will respond with votes to unconstitutional actions.
A day after the police laid siege to the Gujrat residence of former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi — a close aide of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan — decided to move the court against “unconstitutional and illegal” actions taken by the provincial caretaker government.
The development came following a meeting between Elahi and his legal team — comprising Mohsin Murtaza, Khabib Zaman, Muhammad Waseem and others.
Matters related to detentions of political opponents, stopping development projects, “illegal steps” taken by the caretaker government and other issues were discussed during the meeting.
Speaking on the occasion, Parvez Elai — the senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) — condemned the arrest of Punjab Assembly Secretary Muhammad Khan Bhatti.
Elahi said, “The caretaker government is violating the sanctity of chadar aur char dewari (sanctity of privacy).”
The interim setup was victimising political opponents instead of focusing on elections, he added. “The people will respond to the unconstitutional and illegal actions of the rulers with the power of the vote,” he further said while referring to the upcoming elections in Punjab.
According to the former CM, the caretaker setup is playing with the law and the Constitution and fleeing from elections. “The caretaker government should know that it has no mandate but to conduct the elections. The rulers are afraid of giving a date for the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).”
Speaking on the occasion, the PML-Q leader lashed out at the prime minister and the PDM leadership.
Police return without arresting Elahi
A day earlier, the police raided the residence of Elahi in Gujrat but returned without making any arrests.
PML-Q leader Moonis Elahi shared the video of Punjab Police raiding his father’s residence in his hometown on his Twitter account.
Elahi had earlier claimed about police surrounding his home in Gujrat and also said that they have tried to break in.
“A heavy contingent of police is present outside my residence in Gujrat. They are trying to break into the house,” the former CM said.
The PML-Q leader also spoke about his ex-principal secretary Mohammad Khan Bhatti’s home being surrounded by the police. Bhatti was arrested from the Matiari district in Sindh.
Earlier, Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid, a close aide of Khan, was arrested from Murree Motorway, police confirmed in Thursday’s early hours, a move that drew strong criticism from PTI. Earlier, PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry was taken into custody in sedition case.
Following the incident, the police registered cases against close aides of the former chief minister. Eijaz Ranian and Akhlaq Ranian among 11 known and 16 unknown persons were booked in a case relating to firing incident on Afzal Ahmad’s “Dera”.
