LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has rejected a request from Rasikh, the son of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Pervaiz Elahi, to restrain police officials from arresting his father and conducting raids at his residence.
However, Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar has instructed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Dr Usman Anwar and the director general of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) to provide a detailed report on the late-night raid at Elahi’s Lahore residence on Saturday. The judge has instructed them to proceed in accordance with the law.
During the proceedings, the petitioner’s counsel argued that raids were conducted on a daily basis, and Justice Dogar asked the counsel under which law the court could prevent the police from arresting the ex-CM. The petitioner’s counsel maintained that there were prior cases where the court had passed such directions. The LHC judge further questioned how the court could accept Rasikh’s request until the report was submitted.
Last week, Elahi’s son moved the LHC to order a stop to police operations at their residence and prevent the police from arresting his family members. In his petition, Rasikh contended that police officials had entered the house without search warrants and conducted an operation similar to those being conducted “in Waziristan or the tribal areas of South Punjab”. The chief secretary of Punjab, director general ACE Punjab, additional director of ACE Punjab, senior superintendent of police (SSP) operations Lahore, and superintendent of police (SP) Model Town Lahore were listed as respondents in the plea.
The plea detailed that on April 27, 2023, a first information report (FIR) was registered by ACE Gujranwala against Pervaiz Elahi, who was later granted bail from the LHC until May 6. Despite the court orders, on April 28, the respondents raided the house along with 300 to 400 police officials, broke the main gate of their residence with their armoured vehicle, and entered the house without showing any respect to Elahi’s family.
(Islambad51-Newsdesk)
