LHC moved for recovery of Elahi’s former principal secretary

Govt victimising Muhammad Bhatti and two others over PML-Q affiliation, claims petitioner

LAHORE:

A petition was filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday seeking the recovery of former Punjab chief minister Parvaiz Elahi’s principal secretary, Muhammad Khan Bhatti, and two others.

Petitioner Kausar Perveen, wife of the former principal secretary, argued that the detainees are being subjected to political victimisation and humiliation for their loyalty to the PML-Q.

The petition has also sought LHC direction to quarters concerned to trace, recover, and then produce two other detenues—Sajid Tanveer and Shahzad Akhtar—before the court.

She maintained in her petition that her husband had always discharged his duties in the most faithful manner and to the best of his abilities and had an unblemished career. However, on account of the political background of his family and its affiliation with the PML-Q, he had been victimised by the coalition government headed by rival parties.

The petitioner said her husband had told her two weeks ago that, due to his affiliation, political rivals had decided to implicate him in false criminal cases and planned to authorise inquiries or register false criminal cases against him. He had said that they had planned to do this in a secret and clandestine manner so as to ensure he is unable to approach courts for seeking bail before arrest.

Also read: Corruption case lodged against Elahi's former principal secretary

The petitioner added that she came to know on January 19, 2023 through media reports that her husband’s name was put on a stop-list by an investigative agency.

After that he had filed a plea seeking removal of his name from the stop-list and sought further details of inquiries, if pending anywhere, and registration of any FIR, she added.

Following his plea, respondents including the director of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the director-general of the anti-corruption department revealed records of the two FIRs registered against him.

The petitioner said her husband had contacted her the last time on February 6 and told her that some unidentified persons in plain clothes introducing themselves as officials of the FIA and Anti-Corruption Establishment have intercepted his vehicle and arresting him.

The other two detainees, Sajid Tanveer and Shahzad Akhtar, have not been in contact till today, she added.

She sought directions to the federal government, DG FIA, Punjab government, DG anti-corruption and Punjab IGP to trace, recover, and produce the detainees before the court.