LAHORE: After the Lahore High Court (LHC) directed officials of the Anti-Corruption Establishment to apologise to PTI leader Parvez Elahi over a raid at his residence last week, ACE Additional Director General Waqasul Hassan tendered a vague apology on Thursday.

In a press conference held here, the ACE official said he was tendering an apology on the order of the high court.

“If through my words, contempt of court is committed, I apologise before everyone,” Mr Hassan said, without explicitly stating that his apology had come on court orders in connection with a raid at the residence of Mr Elahi.

The ACE and police officials had stormed the residence of the former chief minister in Lahore last week to arrest him in a corruption probe despite the claim of the latter that he had secured a pre-arrest bail from the court till May 6. Subsequently, Mr Elahi filed a contempt petition in the high court against the ACE raid.

LHC asks officials to submit apology in writing; former Punjab CM gets bail till May 11 in terror case

The ACE official justified the operation at Mr Elahi’s residence, saying: “The ACE and police had to launch an operation at Mr Elahi’s residence after stones were pelted on them from inside his house.

He parried a question whether the operation was launched at Mr Elahi’s residence on the order of the government or ‘someone else’. The federal government had distanced itself from the raid the very next day.

When asked why ACE was fixated on only PTI leaders, Mr Hassan said: “Those who have committed corruption will have to face the law. However, the PML-N has already gone through their cases (in ACE).”

The PTI accused caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi of targeting the PTI leadership. Mr Naqvi had also faced strong criticism from the PML-Q for raiding the residence of Chaudhry Shujaat in a bid to arrest Mr Elahi. Although Naqvi had visited Shujaat Hussain on Wednesday and apologised for the police raid, the interim CM said he was in Saudi Arabia when the operation was launched.

PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said the apology tendered by the additional director general was not enough. “The Lahore High Court needs to send some such Punjab government officials to jail, otherwise this circus of maligning people will continue,” he said. The PTI added the officials, who arrested Hassaan Niazi despite bail, would also be held accountable.

Elahi gets bail

An anti-terrorism court also granted interim pre-arrest bail to PTI central president in a case of offering resistance and attacking a police team that raided his house to arrest him.

Mr Elahi appeared before the court and his lawyer stated that the Ghalib Market police registered the case purely on political grounds.

He said the petitioner was ready to join the investigation but police were bent upon arresting him. Judge Ijaz Ahmad Buttar granted pre-arrest bail to Mr Elahi till May 11 and restrained the police from arresting him. The judge also directed the petitioner to join the police investigation.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2023