Lahore (Web Desk): A team of the Anti Corruption Establishment (ACE), Punjab, and the Lahore police raided the house of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central President and former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi to arrest him late on Friday night.
TV footages showed raiding team used an armoured vehicle to break open the main gate of the PTI leaders Gulberg residence.
Anti-riot personnel also baton-charged the employees of the Elahi who resisted the cops during the operation that continued for six hours.
The ACE team, led by Additional Director Waqas Hassan, along with heavy contingents of the Anti-Riot Force (ARF), raided the residence of the former Punjab chief minister in a case reportedly registered at the ACE Gujranwala.
Police gathered outside the residence of Elahi on Zahoor Elahi Road at around 11 pm. Senior police officers, including superintendents of police (SPs) besides the area station house officers (SHOs) were also present.
The ACE team tried to enter the house but they met with fierce resistance. The employees of Elahi threw stones, when the police made an attempt to enter the premises. A petrol bomb was also allegedly hurled during the raid.
The search operation continued until at least 2am on Saturday and the police failed to lay hands on Mr Elahi, who was said to not be in the house.
At least 27 individuals, includieng servants working in the household of the former Punjab chief minister and PTI workers protesting at the scene were arrested by the police.
It was reported that Pervaiz Elahi was not present at his residence, however, his mobile’s location shows that he is present in the same neighborhood.
On the other hand, Elahi's lawyer Amir Saeed said an operation was conducted to arrest his client, who already got bail in a case by the Lahore High Court (LHC). Justice Tariq Saleem granted pre-arrest bail to Mr Elahi until May 6.
Police had sealed off Zahoor Elahi Road at both ends before launching the operation. At the outset, the raiding team had approached the legal team of Elahi, which informed them that Elahi had secured protective bail from the court.
The ACE team insisted that the former Punjab CM was required in a new case and they would not leave without arresting the PTI leader.
The police action ended after Sohail Zafar Chattha, the Director General of the ACE left the scene along with the police contingent.
The raid came just hours after the second round of the negotiations between the PTI and the coalition government to break the impasse over the election dates.
In a tweet, Moonis Elahi, son of the former Punjab chief minister, slammed the police action, saying that the Punjab police have arrived at their residence to arrest his father, despite him being granted bail in the case earlier today.
He added that PTI Chairman Imran Khan “is absolutely right: Rule of Law has ended in Pakistan”.
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The PTI also strongly condemned the raid at Parvez Elahi’s house and described it as a step to sabotage the ongoing talks with the government over elections.
Taking to Twitter, PTI Chairman Imran PTI chief Khan said that it was an illegal raid on Elahi's home, with no regard for the presence of women and family members.
“Strongly condemn the illegal raid on Pervez Elahi’s home with no respect to the women and family members present,” he said.
“We are seeing the dismantling of democracy in Pak before our eyes. There is no respect for Constitution, SC verdicts, or fundamental rights of the ppl— only law of jungle,” the PTI chief added.
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