Islamabad [Pakistan], July 17 : Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi's legal team has approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) to dismiss his detention order by declaring it "unlawful, void, against the law and of no legal effect," Pakistan-based Dawn reported.
Elahi's action comes after the Lahore Deputy Commissioner issued a 30-day detention order for Elahi under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO), according to Dawn.
According to the order issued on Sunday night, Elahi will be held at Lahore's Camp Jail where he has been kept since last month. The order was issued after Lahore police requested Elahi’s detention for allegedly disturbing the peace in connection with three cases.
In the plea filed in the Lahore High Court, Elahi has named 11 parties as respondents, which include the Punjab government, Lahore Inspector General Usman Anwar, the Federal Investigating Agency, the National Accountability Bureau, the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment, the Lahore IG (Prisons) and the Lahore DC, as per the Dawn report.
The plea filed by the PTI president's legal team has called for Elahi's release and provided him with "reasonable time to approach the relevant court of law for his anticipatory/pre-arrest or protective bail" if the respondents produced any new FIRs against him.
Furthermore, Elahi in the plea requested the court to direct authorities to not arrest him in any criminal case until the decision on the petition was announced, as per the Dawn report.
According to the plea, Elahi was in judicial custody in Camp Jail in a case filed by FIA's anti-money laundering circle on February 13 in which the petitioner has been given post-arrest bail on July 11.
In the plea, Elahi's lawyers said that the PTI president had been "deprived of his liberty since June 1” for the “purpose of political victimisation”.
The petitioner alleged that the respondents with "malafide intention and by joining hands" with the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) were politically victimizing Elahi by "keeping him behind the bars for one reason or the other."
During the hearing, lawyer Amir Saeed Raan appeared on behalf of Elahi and said that the Lahore DC’s order was illegal, adding that his client had been granted bail in all cases.
During the hearing, Justice Ali Baqar told the Punjab government lawyer that "what you are doing is not right." The judge further said, "Apart from allegations, you also need evidence to detain [Elahi]," Dawn reported.
Elahi filed the petition after Lahore DC Rafia Haider in the detention order stated that Lahore police had reported that Elahi was “an active member and firebrand speaker” of the PTI.
It further said that the Model Town division superintendent (SP) and the district intelligence branch had reported that an "activist" like Elahi will "create a situation of unrest and disturbance," Dawn reported.
The detention order said that Elahi had the “potential to disrupt the public peace and tranquillity and to provoke people illegally for taking [the] law into [their] hands”.
It further said that police had received “credible information indicating that if the individual in question is left free, [he] can potentially worsen the law and order along with his accomplices, which can end up in replicating the May 9 mayhem," according to Dawn report.
In the order, DC Haider said that she is convinced that Elahi's presence “at any public space will pose a grave threat to the public safety and it is likely to cause a breach of public peace and public order."
Subsequently, the Lahore DC ordered the arrest of Elahi and his detention for 30 days at the city’s Camp Jail.
Elahi is among several PTI leaders and workers who have been arrested amid the state’s crackdown on the PTI leadership after the May 9 protests over the arrest of former Pakistan PM Imran Khan, the report said. He was first arrested on June 1 by the ACE for allegedly taking kickbacks in development projects.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor