LAHORE:

Punjab police on Saturday booked the former chief minister of Punjab and a key ally of Imran Khan, Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, on terror charges following a late-night raid at his residence.  

The case has been registered against 50 individuals including the former chief minister in Lahore’s Ghalib Market police station. The FIR invokes Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and has 13 other charges included pertaining to attempted murder, rioting and assault on government officials. 

According to the FIR, filed on an anti-corruption officer’s complaint, the raiding team was attacked with petrol bombs, stones and batons. The complaint added that Elahi assisted in escaping arrest during the raid.

The registration of the terrorism case against Elahi comes just hours after a team of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), Punjab, and the Lahore police conducted a raid to arrest the PTI ally.

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The raiding teams remained on the premises of the former CM’s residence for more than three hours during which they took around nine people into custody, but were unable to find Elahi.

The ACE team, led by Additional Director Waqas Hassan, along with heavy contingents of the Anti-Riot Force (ARF), raided the residence of the former Punjab chief minister in a case reportedly registered at the ACE Gujranwala.

The raid at Elahi’s residence came hours after the ACE arrested a close friend of Parvez Elahi’s son, Moonis. Also, the provincial anti-graft body booked the former chairperson of Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) over corruption charges.

Late night raid

Police had sealed off Zahoor Elahi Road at both ends before launching the operation. At the outset, the raiding team had approached the legal team of Elahi, which informed them that Elahi had secured protective bail from the court.

When the negotiations between the legal team and ACE team failed, the ARF made an attempt to enter the premises. However, it was met with severe resistance from the workers inside the house.

The police made further attempts to break the gate, as they climbed over the wall but because of the stone pelting, their attempts failed again. Reportedly water mixed with petrol and kerosene oil was also thrown at the police from inside the house.

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After multiple attempts failed, the police finally deployed an armoured personnel carrier (APC), which tore down the main gate and opened a passage for the police to enter the premises. The police them arrested over seven PTI workers.

The policemen then broke down the windowpanes as well the doors to enter the house. In the drawing room inside, the police met with the female cousins of Elahi, who told them that he was not at home.

After searching Elahi’s house, the police also moved to check the residence of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, which is located in the same sprawling complex that has the same entry point. Shujaat’s son, Salik Hussain, told the police that Elahi’s was not in their house.

Imran condemns raid

The PTI chairman Imran Khan “strongly condemned the illegal raid on Pervez Elahi’s home with no respect to the women & family mbrs [members] present [in the house]. We are seeing the dismantling of democracy in Pak before our eyes”.

Imran wrote in a late-night tweet: “There is no respect for Constitution, SC [Supreme Court] verdicts, or fundamental rights of the ppl [people] – only law of jungle& fascism. All part of London Plan to demoralise & crush PTI,” he added.

Imran said that a “cabal of crooks and their handlers” attacked his house earlier and now the house of Elahi, adding that this “barbarism” was never seen even during martial law period of the military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

“Enough is enough. Tomorrow [Saturday] I will give roadmap to our nation on how to stand up against this destruction of our Constitution & democracy,” the PTI chairman wrote on the microblogging website.

Later, the police retreated at about 2 am without arresting Elahi. According to media reports nine people, including two women, had been taken into custody during the raid.

Source link: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2414252/pervez-elahi-booked-on-terror-charges-hours-after-late-night-raid