LAHORE: A team of anti-corruption establishment and police again raided the residence of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi on Thursday in Lahore to arrest him after his interim bail was cancelled.

Unlike the raid early this month in which the team had used an armoured personnel vehicle to break open the main gate of the former Punjab chief minister’s Gulberg residence, the ACE team escorted by police found no hurdles in holding the search but failed to find him there.

According to the ACE, Mr Elahi is wanted in a case related to the misuse of powers and embezzlement in development funds.

The raiding team also closed the Zahoor Elahi Road for traffic causing a great deal of inconvenience to commuters for several hours.

The ACE team stayed there for several hours as it was seeking permission from the authorities to search PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain’s residence adjacent to Elahi’s.

Early this month when the ACE raided Elahi’s house it also barged into Shujaat’s house provoking the ire of the government’s ally for trespassing it. Shujaat’s sons had resisted ACE team’s entry to their house for the purpose.

The ACE said it would only return after making sure that Mr Elahi was not present in the vicinity.

It is learnt that Mr Elahi is being pressurised to quit the PTI in the wake of May 9 incidents.

Earlier in a video message, Mr Elahi said he and his son Moonis Elahi were standing by Mr Khan. However, he said he always wished that the army should be respected as well as the offices of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the prime minister.

Meanwhile, PTI chief and former premier Imran Khan strongly condemned the police raid yet again on the residence of Mr Elahi. “No end to yazeediyat launched on PTI and its supporters. The mindset behind this tyranny is that this will weaken the party. A political party only weakens when it loses its vote bank, as have all the PDM parties. These terror tactics are only increasing sympathy for PTI,” Khan said in a tweet.

Earlier on Thursday morning, a special court dismissed the interim pre-arrest bail of Parvez Elahi in a case of receiving kickbacks in the government payments.

Mr Elahi did not appear before the court on expiry of his interim bail and his lawyer filed an application seeking one-time exemption from personal appearance.

Judge Ali Raza, however, turned down the request and dismissed the bail petition of the PTI president for his non-appearance in the court.

The ACE registered the case against Elahi and his son, Moonis Elahi, accusing them of receiving kickbacks of Rs120 million in payments made to a foreign contractor of the Lahore Waste Management Company.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2023