LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday asked a counsel for the Punjab’s caretaker government whether former chief minister Parvez Elahi had been detained for an offence committed against the state.

Hearing a petition of Mr Elahi’s wife against his detention, Justice Raheel Kamran Sheikh observed that the FIRs registered against the former chief minister had no relation to his detention.

Earlier, the government’s lawyer told the court that the former chief minister had been detained in the light of a report by the Lahore capital city police officer (CCPO). He said Mr Elahi was involved in an attack on a team of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE).

The judge noted that criminal proceedings on an FIR had nothing to do with the detention under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).

The judge adjourned further hearing till Thursday (today) and directed the government’s lawyer to explain if the former chief minister committed any offence which threatened the state.

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

He said an appeal against Mr Elahi’s detention had been filed before the home department, but no decision had been taken on it so far.

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

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

The Lahore deputy commissioner 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 grant of bail in all cases against him.

REMAND: An accountability court on Wednesday allowed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) seven-day physical remand of a secretary to former federal minister Moonis Elahi in a corruption case.

The NAB produced the suspect, Sohail Asghar, before the court and sought his physical remand for investigation.

The court allowed the request and granted the physical remand of the suspect to the NAB till Aug 16.

Moonis Elahi, who left the country last year, faces multiple cases of corruption and money laundering registered against him by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE).

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2023