LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday directed the additional chief secretary for home to decide an application challenging the detention of former chief minister Parvez Elahi.

Justice Raheel Kamran Sheikh passed the order on a petition filed by the wife of Mr Elahi, challenging the detention of her husband under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).

A counsel on behalf of the petitioner, Qaisera Elahi, argued that the government issued the detention order of Mr Elahi with mala fide intention only to frustrate his release after he secured bail in all the cases registered against him.

He said an appeal against the detention had been filed before the home department but no decision had been taken so far.

The counsel further alleged that the government unlawfully shifted Mr Elahi from Lahore’s Camp Jail to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

He asked the court to order the home department to decide the application against the detention of the former chief minister.

Justice Sheikh directed the additional chief secretary to decide the application of the petitioner on Aug 7.

The deputy commissioner of Lahore had issued a 30-day detention order for Elahi on the request of the police when he was due to be released from jail following bail in all cases against him.

Separately, the wife of Mr Elahi filed a petition in the Lahore High Court against the authorities for not allowing her and other family members to visit the PTI leader in the jail.

She pleaded that the officials at Adiala Jail did not allow the family to see her detained husband, which was a violation of fundamental rights.

remand denied: An anti-terrorism court on Friday denied the police further physical remand of the husband of a PTI social media activist and five other workers, sending them to jail on judicial remand in the Jinnah House attack case.

The police presented Attique Riaz, the husband of detained Sanam Javed, Sarfraz Ahmad, Mukhtar Ahmad, Qaiser Butt, Shamshad Ali and Mohsin Ali before the court on expiry of their previous remand.

The investigating officer (IO) said further custody of the suspects was required to complete the investigation.

However, the judge dismissed the request and sent the suspects on judicial remand till Aug 18. The judge also directed the IO to submit challan against the suspects by the next hearing.

Sarwar Road police had registered a case of the attack on Jinnah House, following the property’s vandalisation during the May 9 riots involving PTI leaders and workers.

Separately, the court extended the judicial remand of PTI-Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid till Aug 17 in a case of violence on Sherpao Bridge during the May 9 protests.

The court expressed its displeasure over the delay in submission of challan against the suspect and directed the IO to ensure it on the next hearing.

Replies sought: The Lahore High Court on Friday sought replies from the Punjab government and the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) on a petition of former principal secretary to the chief minister Muhammad Khan Bhatti seeking details of all cases registered against him.

A counsel for the petitioner argued before the court that a number of cases had been registered against his client but only on political consideration. He said every time a new case was registered whenever the petitioner was released in a previous case.

He said the petitioner was not able to defend himself under the law as the government and its agencies had not provided details of the cases to him.

He asked the court to order the government and other respondents to furnish complete details of the cases registered against the petitioner so that he could avail legal remedy.

Bhatti, who is on judicial remand in several cases of alleged corruption, is a BS-22 officer and had been working on different high positions, including the Punjab Assembly secretary.

The ACE registered multiple cases of alleged misappropriation in the development funds and misuse of authority against the former principal secretary, who is believed to be a confidant of former chief minister Parvez Elahi.

Published in Dawn, Aug 5th, 2023