Two courts come up with different views on Elahi’s bail

ATC rejects Ex-Punjab CM’s plea, anti-graft court extends it till 25th

LAHORE:

Two separate courts in Lahore on Thursday presented different views on an application by former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi seeking exemption from personal appearance and pre-arrest bail.

One of them dismissed the pre-arrest bail plea of Elahi while the other extended it till May 25. An anti-terrorism court heard Elahi’s pre-arrest bail in a case registered against him and others over charges of hurling petrol bombs on police officials, creating law and order and interfering in state matters when the law enforcement agency raided his residence on Zahoor Elahi Road.

On the other hand, an anti-corruption court was hearing his pre-arrest bail plea related to the allegations against him of committing irregularities in different development projects and causing huge loss to the national exchequer.

As the proceedings commenced in the ATC, Elahi’s counsel advocate Amir Saeed Rawn requested the court to admit the application submitted on behalf of the petitioner seeking a one-day exemption from personal appearance on the grounds that his client was unwell.

However, the court turned down the request to admit this application and dismissed the former Punjab chief minister pre-arrest bail plea.

However as the proceedings commenced in the anti-corruption court, the petitioner’s lawyer placed the same arguments. The anti-graft court judge accepted Elahi’s non-appearance application on medical grounds and extended his pre-arrest bail till May 25.

Speaking to the media in earlier proceedings, Elahi had maintained that they had not adopted the path leading towards terrorism but a peaceful one.

“We relied on the judiciary and knocked its doors. Everyone saw we [PTI] sat on the negotiation table but the Sharif family is an expert in filing false cases against people,” he added.

“We know them [Sharif brothers] and their family too. They have a habit of making promises and never fulfilling them,” Elahi claimed.

Read ATC rejects Elahi's interim bail

On May 3, the Lahore High Court (LHC)’s Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh came down hard on Additional Director General of Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Waqas Hassan, warning him that he “will not be spared if contempt is established on [his] part” in former Punjab chief minister Pervaiz Elahi’s arrest case.

Justice Sheikh was hearing a plea filed by Elahi seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against ACE officials and the police high-ups for conducting a raid at his Lahore residence despite being granted protective bail in that case.

As proceedings commenced, replies were submitted on behalf of the respondents, Director General ACE Punjab Sohail Zafar Chatha, Additional DG ACE Punjab Waqas Hassan, SSP Operations Sohaib Ashraf and SP Model Town Ammara Shirazi. The law officer told the court that there was confusion in the raid process, adding that the bail was granted to petitioner Elahi in FIR dated 6/2023 and the raid was to be conducted in FIR 7/2023 but mistakenly the record available with the ACE team had mentioned FIR 7/2023 rather than mentioning FIR 6/2023.

To this, Justice Sheikh observed that there are two points in the case, one is about a mistake as per the ATC officials’ stance and the second is about the remarks that the additional director general passed against the court during the raid.

“This court has summoned him in person in connection to his remarks,” the judge remarked.

“Sir, neither I committed any contempt of court nor cloud I even think about it,” Hassan told the court.

The LHC justice then sought an arrest warrant of Elahi that the ACE team took along with them during the raid. But the law officer parried this question and were unable to produce the warrant.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2023.