LAHORE: After meeting his cousin and PTI president Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in jail on Monday, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said the former was not well and that his feet were swollen.

Mr Hussain, who visited the district jail along with his son Salik Husain, quoted Mr Elahi as saying, “Our family has seen massive difficulties in the past, too.”

Soon after the meeting, the Punjab government acted briskly and granted “better class” facilities in jail for the former chief minister who is facing a case relating to alleged illegal appointments in the Punjab Assembly.

The directive issued by the provincial home department states the order shall automatically stand cancelled when the prisoner [Parvez Elahi] is released from jail.

Court reserves verdict on ex-CM’s bail petition in ‘illegal appointments’ case

Speaking to media persons, Chaudhry Shujaat said he went to meet Parvez Elahi because he is a member of his family. Answering a question whether Mr Elahi would rejoin his old party, the party president said “he is already in the PML-Q”.

When reminded that Parvez Elahi is PTI president, Mr Hussain responded with a smile.

Meanwhile, Parvez Elahi’s son Moonis Elahi tweeted that his father was not being allowed to meet the lawyers and his wife. He said the IG (prisons) took the PML-Q president and his son for a meeting with incarcerated Parvez Elahi.

“Now the government will tell us that this week’s family meeting with Parvez Elahi has been carried out,” Moonis Elahi stated sarcastically.

Verdict reserved

A special anti-corruption court in Lahore on Monday reserved its verdict on a post-arrest bail petition of former chief minister Parvez Elahi in a case of making alleged illegal appointments in the Punjab Assembly.

Opposing the bail, Special Prosecutor Abdul Samad argued before the court that Mr Elahi and other suspects manipulated the appointments of a dozen of unsuccessful candidates by changing the results of their written examination. He alleged that the suspects had hired a fake testing service and declared the successful candidates fail only to accommodate their favourite candidates on BS-17 posts.

The prosecutor claimed that documentary evidence was available to establish the offence committed by the suspects and requested the court to dismiss Mr Elahi’s bail petition.

Judge Ali Raza Awan reserved the verdict, which is likely to be announced on Tuesday (today).

Mr Elahi’s counsel Rana Intizar Hussain had already concluded his arguments denying the charges against his client. He said the petitioner had been implicated in the case on political considerations at the government’s behest.

Parvez Elahi was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) officials from outside his residence on June 1.

The ACE alleged that the former chief minister had recruited one dozen grade-17 officers in the Punjab Assembly against merit. It said all the appointed candidates were from Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin, the political constituencies of the Chaudhrys.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2023