Pakistan: Court orders release of Imran Khan's party president Chaudhry Pervez Elahi

A Pakistani court on Friday ordered the immediate release of Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, the president of former prime minister Imran Khan’s party, from the custody of the anti-graft agency in a corruption case.

The court also warned the agency against arresting the former Punjab chief minister in any other case.

Justice Amjad Rafiq of the Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered the release of the President of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) failed to produce Elahi in the court on one pretext or another despite strong orders issued by the Court, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

“The LHC has ordered authorities to immediately release former Punjab chief minister Pervez Elahi,” the report said.

Expressing displeasure over the NAB and the Punjab provincial government’s conduct, Justice Rafiq remarked that the high court is being undermined.
“Stop playing ping-pong with the court,” he said in the order and instructed an inquiry to be conducted into his arrest in violation of court orders.

Elahi, 77, is among several leaders and workers who have been arrested amid the state’s crackdown on the PTI leadership following the May 9 riots during protests over party chief Khan being whisked away by paramilitary personnel at the Islamabad HC premises.

He was first arrested on June 1 but was deprived of his freedom repeatedly and dragged in on several graft cases.

The PTI president’s most recent arrest, by the NAB on August 14, was in a case of allegedly receiving bribes/kickbacks in exchange for getting the “contracts of road schemes of Gujrat Highways Division awarded to favourite/hand-picked contractors. His custody was extended till September 2.

During the proceedings on Friday, Additional Advocate General Ghulam Sarwar Nihung initiated his argument by stating that they could not obtain the court order passed to present Elahi in the court and then read a letter from the provincial caretaker government, wherein the court was informed that the armed forces and the Punjab Police were busy with anti-terrorism operations.

He further said that armoured vehicles are also not available and added that the CTD had reported that there are threats to the lives of the politicians, including Elahi’s.

Following the court’s order, Elahi was released from the custody of NAB.
Talking to reporters after his release on Friday, Elahi held the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) responsible for the current state of the economy.

“All of them have run off to London after ruining the economy,” he was quoted as saying in a report by the Dawn news website

“They have kept me inside, I don’t even know what is happening in the country,” the PTI president added.

With inputs from PTI.