Pervaiz Elahi arrested in Judicial Complex attack case

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has been arrested in the Judicial Complex attack case, police said.

The former Punjab chief minister was arrested in connection with the case registered at the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Police station in the federal capital.

The case relates to rioting at the Judicial Complex allegedly by PTI workers during an appearance by PTI Chairman Imran Khan in March this year.

A case is registered in CTD police station by the SHO of Ramna police station under eleven provisions including terrorism. The riot case was registered on March 18 against unknown persons in which Pervaiz Elahi has been included.

Earlier today, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi was arrested from the main gate of Police Lines soon after being released. He was taken away by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and plainclothes personnel to the CTD police station.

The Islamabad High Court issued orders to release Pervaiz Elahi. The politician was brought to the Police Line Headquarters and was released before being re-arrested.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has suspended the detention Pervaiz Elahi under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) and ordered the Islamabad police to release him.

IHC Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri heard the plea and declared the order of Elahi’s detention under the MPO as “null and void”.

Elahi was rearrested under MPO by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police shortly after being released by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the orders of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on September 1.

The PTI president had filed a petition in the IHC against his arrest by Islamabad police under MPO. The MPO order was issued by the district magistrate of Islamabad.

Elahi’s lawyer, during his arguments, said his client has been in jail for three months and questioned how he could possibly create a law and situation in custody. He also read out the MPO order in the court and shared that his client has not issued any statement in the last four months.

The counsel said that Elahi has no case registered against him in Islamabad and was discharged from the corruption case. He added that the politician’s arrest in the case by the NAB was also declared illegal by the Lahore High Court.

The court inquired if Elahi was involved in riots or held rallies in Islamabad, to which his lawyer replied in negative. He also informed the court about the contempt of court proceedings against Islamabad district commissioner for passing a similar order against PTI leader Shehryar Afridi.

Justice Jahangiri maintained that the politician has been detained for more than three months. The judge summoned the deputy commissioner to court on the next hearing. The IHC also directed Elahi to avoid giving any statement until the next hearing.