LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday issued notices to the Punjab government and police on a petition filed by the wife of former chief minister Parvez Elahi challenging the detention of her husband under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) and his shifting from Camp jail.

Earlier, a government’s law officer questioned the maintainability of the petition and said the petition was not maintainable before the court since an appeal of the former chief minister against the detention was pending before the deputy commissioner.

Advocate Amir Saeed Rawn appeared on behalf of Ms Qaisera Elahi, the petitioner, and contended that the government issued the detention order of Mr Elahi with a mala fide intention only to stop his release after he had secured bail in all cases filed against him. He said an appeal against the detention had been filed before the deputy commissioner on the court’s order, but no decision had been taken so far by the DC.

The counsel alleged that the government secretly shifted Mr Elahi from Lahore’s Camp Jail to some unknown place.

He asked the court to declare the detention of Mr Elahi illegal and order the police to produce him before the court.

Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry heard the arguments and sought replies from respondents by July 24.

The DC had issued a 30-day detention order for Mr Elahi on the request of the police when he was due to be released from jail after getting bail in all cases filed against him.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2023