Imran Khan condemns raid on Parvez Elahi’s residence

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday “strongly condemned” the raid on party president Parvez Elahi’s residence, saying that “these terror tactics are only increasing sympathy for PTI.”

Taking to Twitter, Imran said, the party will not be weakened by such tactics.

“The mindset behind this tyranny is that this will weaken the party. A political party only weakens when it loses its vote bank, as have all the PDM parties,” he said, adding that the terror tactics were only increasing sympathy for PTI.

The statement comes after Punjab Police at PTI President Parvez Elahi’s residence in Lahore after an Anti-Corruption Court (ATC) dismissed his pre-arrest bail in a case pertaining to irregularities in development projects launched during his term as the Punjab chief minister.

During the hearing, Judge Ali Raza rejected Elahi’s plea seeking an exemption from appearance in court after the prosecutor contended that the PTI leader’s medical reports were fake.

Elahi’s lawyer Asim Chaudhry said police will be allowed to enter his client’s residence only upon showing a search warrant.

Speaking to the media outside Elahi’s residence, he maintained that his client’s bail was dismissed on the basis of a report declaring a previously submitted medical report of Elahi as fake. “We are now challenging the report,” he added.

This is the second attempt to arrest the former chief minister of Punjab in less than a month. On May 1, the police had raided Elahi’s residence, however, he was not available at home.

On May 2, the Lahore High Court (LHC) barred the police from arresting PTI President and granted him protective bail until May 15.

The high court also barred authorities from arresting the PTI leader in cases that were registered before May 2 until further orders.

More to follow.