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Parvez Elahi sent on 14-day judicial remand in illegal appointment case

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“The [interim] government is subjecting [Elahi] to political victimization,” argues his counsel.

  • ACE seeks Parvez Elahi’s physical remand for 10 more days.
  • Punjab govt lodging fake cases against Elahi, says his counsel.  
  • Lahore court rejects ACE’s plea and sends Elahi on judicial remand.  

LAHORE: A local court in Lahore on Monday approved a 14-day judicial remand of incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Parvez Elahi in a case relating to illegal appointments in the Punjab Assembly.

After completion of his two-day physical remand, Elahi, who remains imprisoned in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, was produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate Aamir Raza by the officials of the Anti-Corruption Establishment. The ACE, however, pleaded with the court to extend his physical remand for 10 more days to complete the investigations.

Elahi was initially arrested on June 1 from outside his residence in a Rs70 million graft case related to the embezzlement of development funds allocated for the Gujrat district. Since then, the former Punjab chief minister has been released several times only to be arrested immediately in different cases. 

At the outset of today’s proceedings, the ACE’s lawyer apprised the court that they had to recover the suspect’s mobile phone. The lawyer maintained that Rs4.1 million were recovered from Elahi’s house, adding that the ACE has to probe into the matter.

On the other hand, Elahi’s counsel argued that the interim government was lodging fake and baseless cases against his client. “The government is subjecting [Elahi] to political victimisation by arresting him [again and again] in fake and baseless cases,” he said.

After hearing the arguments from both sides, the magistrate rejected ACE’s request and sent him to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

The illegal recruitment case

According to the details provided by an ACE spokesperson, Elahi made 12 illegal recruitments in the Punjab Assembly on grade 17 positions.

The candidates were recruited in the provincial assembly by altering the records. “The illegal recruitments were made through fake testing services,” said the spokesperson.

He said that the investigation by the ACE proved that fake recruitments were made in the Punjab Assembly, adding that the anti-corruption has also arrested Secretary Rai Mumtaz Hussain in connection with this case on the basis of evidence.

“Rai Mumtaz was involved in a fake recruiting process with Parvez Elahi,” he said.

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PTI presents seven nominations to Imran Khan for the judicial commission.

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has proposed seven individuals to its founder, Imran Khan, for consideration as founding members of PTI for membership in the next Judicial Commission.

None of the nominated individuals are attorneys; rather, the roster includes four Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) and three senators.

The proposed MNAs are Umar Ayub, Asad Qaiser, Ali Mohammad Khan, and Aamir Dogar, while the senators are Shibli Faraz, Mohsen Aziz, and Aun Abbas Bapi. Sources suggest that the Judicial Commission will include one opposition member from both the National Assembly and the Senate.

The PTI founder will evaluate and endorse two names from the suggested list, which will then be sent to the Speaker for future actions.

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Miller confirmed that Biden’s administration got a letter from a congressman requesting the release of the PTI founder.

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Following his removal as prime minister in 2022, Khan started a protest movement against a coalition of his enemies led by current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Since then, he has been in jail since August 2023 and has been involved in hundreds of cases.

In response to ARY News’ question over the congressmen’s letter during a media briefing in Washington on Monday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated, “We will respond in due course to the members.”

The United States wants to see Pakistan maintain its democracy, Miller stated.

The release of the PTI founder’s wife and sisters was a result of a meeting between the US Deputy Assistant Secretary and a Pakistani government representative in Islamabad, which was further questioned during the press briefing.

“I won’t be addressing that,” Miller said when asked if the United States was involved in their release. Miller did, however, affirm that the conference included the defense of Pakistan’s basic liberties and rights.

Sixty-two members of the US Congress urged President Joe Biden on October 24 to support the release of Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, and other political prisoners.

The congressmen, who included well-known Muslim members Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, said in their letter that the Biden administration should ask Pakistani authorities to guarantee the safety of PTI founder Imran Khan.

They also underlined that US policy should concentrate on Pakistan’s human rights situation and asked that US ambassadors attend the PTI leader’s incarceration.

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A bill pertaining to the number of Supreme Court justices will soon be presented.

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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), recently met, and the inside story of their conversation has revealed important political developments.

The leaders talked about a variety of constitutional and governance matters, including the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment, according to sources.

One of the primary outcomes of the conference was the decision to expeditiously introduce a bill in parliament that would increase the number of judges on the Supreme Court. Immediately after it is introduced in parliament, this law is expected to be approved in a matter of days.

In addition, the recently ratified 26th Constitutional Amendment was discussed, with particular attention paid to creating a system for the establishment of constitutional benches at the federal and provincial levels. The formation of constitutional benches would be the subject of formal meetings, they agreed.

Furthermore, the leaders examined the pending measure concerning the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) municipal authority, which has been sent to the appropriate committee for additional assessment.

They also discussed the implementation of an agreement on Punjabi issues between the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). According to sources, the conference also discussed the status of an agreement over fund release and administrative jobs in Punjab.

Bilawal Bhutto was reassured by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that the federal government would continue to support continued development initiatives in Sindh.

PM Sharif and Bilawal met on Sunday at the premier’s Model Town home in Lahore, where they talked about the newly ratified 26th Constitutional Amendment and pledged to support Pakistan’s parliamentary system and democracy.

As a historic step, Bilawal Bhutto celebrated the 26th Constitutional Amendment’s adoption during the meeting. He said: “We will work together to strengthen democracy and parliament.”

In agreement, Shehbaz credited the amendment’s accomplishment to the combined efforts of all coalition members. He promised that his commitment to the people would not falter and reiterated his commitment to public service.

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