Cops at Parvaiz Elahi's Lahore residence as crackdown on Imran Khan's party continues

By India Today World Desk: Amid the Pakistan government’s crackdown on Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the Punjab Police has arrived at the Lahore residence of PTI president Parvaiz Elahi, who faces arrest in a corruption case.

Elahi might be arrested in the case pertaining to irregularities in development projects launched during his term as the Punjab chief minister, Dawn reported.

The PTI leader moved a Lahore court seeking pre-arrest bail in the case, but the court has dismissed his plea, the report said.

Last month, the police had launched a late-night raid on Elahi’s residence to take him into custody, but the officers could not find him.

“Strongly condemn the illegal raid on Parvez Elahi’s home with no respect to the women and family members present. We are seeing the dismantling of democracy in Pakistan before our eyes,” Iman Khan had said at the time.

In recent weeks, several PTI leaders and workers have faced arrest over the violent protests that broke out on May 9 following Imran Khan’s dramatic arrest in a corruption case.

Earlier in the day, Khan accused the government of trying to dismantle his party by trying workers in military courts as several top leaders have quit in the face of an intense government crackdown.

So far, Fawad Chaudhry, Dr Shireen Mazari, Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, Malik Amin Aslam, Mahmood Moulvi, Amir Kayani, Jai Prakash, Aftab Siddiqui and Sanjay Gangwani, among many others, left Imran Khan’s party.

It all began when Imran Khan was arrested by the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers in a corruption case while he was at the Islamabad High Court premises on May 9, triggering unrest across the country.

For the first time in Pakistan’s history, the protesters stormed the army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and also torched a corps commander’s house in Lahore. Mazari had condemned the violent protests. The PTI later condemned the violent protests.