Courts affirm Elahi’s bail in several cases, but he remains dubious about negotiations with the PML-N.
Former Chief Minister of Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is not enthusiastic about the negotiations between the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). These negotiations took place in LAHORE.
In a recent interview that he gave to The Express Tribune, he remarked that his many years of experience in politics have taught him that negotiations never result in anything positive when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is involved. This is something that he learned from his long political career.
Elahi continued by saying that he believes the PML-N camp does not have good intents, whereas the PTI camp does have good intentions. In addition to this, he voiced his disapproval of the PML-N’s strategy of maintaining pressure throughout negotiations by registering first information reports (FIRs) and detaining political workers. He described this strategy as an outdated method. Despite this, he continues to be certain that they will not be successful this time.
When Elahi was asked about the likelihood of holding elections, he responded by saying that he is waiting for the verdict of the Supreme Court (SC). He gave the interviewer his word that they would comply with the decision of the highest court.
The conversation with Elahi took place at a time when he was facing allegations of corrupt behavior. The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has charged him and seven others, in one of its first information reports (FIR), of allocating development projects to favored corporations and contractors, which has resulted in losses of over one billion rupees. In a different first information report (FIR), the same agency accused Elahi and other individuals of receiving payments totaling Rs125 million from a foreign corporation via the Lahore Waste Management corporation (LWMC).
Imran argues that negotiations are only possible if the government is willing to dissolve assemblies right now.
In spite of these accusations, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has decided to release Elahi on precautionary bail till May 6. His attorney said that Elahi desired to go before the appropriate court but was afraid of being arrested by the police if he did so. Protective bail was granted by the LHC until the following Saturday.
Elahi’s pre-arrest bail in the suspected Rs125 million corruption case was approved by an anti-corruption court earlier in the day. The judge ordered him to post surety bonds of Rs1,000,000 (one million rupees). The health problems of Elahi’s client were cited in the attorney’s request for an exemption from the personal appearance requirement. In a separate FIR that was filed by the Punjab ACE, he was also given pre-arrest bail until May 11 of this year.
