New development in Pervaiz Elahi detention case
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PTI President Parvez Elahi lodged a petition on Saturday with the Islamabad High Court (IHC), challenging his detention under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO). The petition, presented by Sardar Abdul Raziq Khan on Elahi's behalf, calls for the court to declare the detention as "patently illegal, unlawful, and lacking lawful authority."
The petition urges the IHC to revoke the detention order and issue immediate instructions for his release from custody. This move followed a Lahore High Court (LHC) ruling the previous day, which ordered Elahi's release and imposed restrictions on potential government agency arrests or preventive detention.
However, shortly after his release from Adiala Jail, Elahi's white SUV was intercepted near the FCC underpass in Islamabad by a team of Islamabad and Punjab police officers. They swiftly transferred Elahi into an unmarked white car without a license plate and drove him to Islamabad. Videos of the arrest circulated widely on social media, depicting plainclothes individuals and uniformed Punjab police officers forcibly removing Elahi from his vehicle.
In his Saturday petition, Elahi stated that he had been subjected to "successive arrests in a series of false and politically motivated cases" and mentioned the LHC's directives to shift him to his residence under "tight security."
The petition argued that the MPO detention order was "based on vague, ambiguous, and absurd grounds." Elahi had been in jail for over three months, and there was no evidence that he posed a threat to public safety or order. It claimed that the case was "alien to law and fictitiously created" to unlawfully detain him and compel him to comply with unlawful demands. Additionally, the petition contended that the detention order violated the rule of law, the Constitution, and the LHC's orders.
Section 3 of the MPO ordinance empowers the government to arrest and detain suspected individuals if it deems necessary to prevent them from acting in a manner prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order, for a period of up to six months at a time.
In a separate development, Parvez Elahi's wife filed a contempt of court petition in the Lahore High Court, alleging that her husband was not safely transported home as ordered by the court. The petition names the DIG operations, DIG investigation, and SP high court security parties and calls for contempt proceedings against them. This petition will be heard on September 4 (Monday) by Justice Amjad Rafiq.
