LAHORE: Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, the president of former PM Imran Khan’s party, was on Friday re-arrested by the Islamabad police hours after the Lahore High Court ordered his release in a graft case and explicitly directing the authorities not to take him in custody in any other case, a media report said on Friday.
Elahi, 77, was released from the custody of the National Accountability Bureau on Friday afternoon after the HC ordered the authorities to set him free as they did not present him in the court despite clear orders, the Dawn newspaper reported.
“Former Punjab CM Chaudhry Parvez Elahi was taken into custody on the orders of the district magistrate under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO). He is being shifted to jail,” the Capital police in Islamabad said in a tweet on the platform X (formerly Twitter).
Section 3 of MPO empowers the government to arrest and detain suspected persons.
Elahi is among several Pakistan Tehreek-i Insaaf (PTI) leaders and workers who have been arrested amid the state’s crackdown on the PTI leadership following the May 9 riots during protests over party chief Imran Khan being whisked away by paramilitary personnel at the Islamabad High Court premises.
He was first arrested on June 1 but was deprived of his freedom repeatedly and dragged in on several graft cases. Earlier in the morning after ordering the release of Elahi, the HC warned the NAB against arresting the Punjab ex-CM in any other case.