Pakistan

Shujaat meets Elahi at Lahore jail

PML-Q chief inquires about his cousin’s health, discuss political situation

Our Correspondent June 19, 2023

LAHORE:

In an interesting development, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Monday met Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Parvez Elahi at Lahore Camp Jail in a sign of ice breaking between the cousins who were once regarded as inseparable.

Shujaat’s son Chaudhry Salik Hussain was accompanying the PML-Q leader. During the meeting the Shujaat inquired about Elahi’s health. The two leaders also discussed the current political situation.

The meeting that continued for about one hour was arranged at the jail's administration block. The Ministry of Interior had given permission for this meeting, official sources said.

After the meeting, Elahi’s son Moonis Elahi, who served as federal minister during the PTI’s rule, confirmed the development in a tweet.

Read Parvez Elahi's health deteriorates in prison

“Today IG Prisons himself took Chaudhry Shujaat Sahib and his son Chaudhry Salik Hussain to meet him [Parvez Elahi],” he said.

The former minister complained that his father was not being allowed to meet his lawyers while his mother—Elahi’s wife—was also not getting permission to meet the PTI leader.

“Now they [jail authorities] will tell us that the weekly meeting [of the accused] with his family has already taken place,” he said.

A judicial magistrate in Lahore on June 4 remanded the Punjab former chief minister in judicial custody for 14 days after he was arrested by the provincial Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) in a case pertaining to bribery and illegal recruitments.

Elahi is among the PTI leaders who are standing firm with the party chairman, Imran Khan, despite a government crackdown that is followed by a mass exodus of leaders from the former ruling party.

Once a senior leader of the PML-Q, Elahi joined the PTI in March this year, two months after PTI chief Imran Khan decided to dissolve the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies where the party was in power.