Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President and senior politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain visited his cousin and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Parvez Elahi in Lahore’s Camp Jail for the second time in less than two weeks and tried to convince the incarcerated leader to part ways with the former ruling party and rejoin their family’s political party, well-placed sources said.
The sources privy to the matter said Shujaat’s son, Chaudhry Salik Hussain, and his brother, Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain, were also present during the meeting.
Elahi was taken into custody by anti-corruption officials from near his residence in Lahore on June 1 in the Rs70 million corruption case related to the embezzlement of development funds allocated for the Gujrat district. Since then, the former Punjab chief minister was re-arrested multiple times after being released on the orders of the relevant courts.
During the meeting, Shujaat inquired about the health of his cousin. Matters of mutual interest and current political situation and other matters were discussed, the sources added.
Shujaat apprised Elahi that they had been united in politics, adding that it is in their best interest.
The sources privy to the matter also revealed that the PTI president is ready to jump ship but his son, Moonis Elahi, is the major hurdle for Parvez Elahi to rejoin the PML-Q.
It is pertinent to mention here that the PML-Q had suspended the basic party membership of Elahi for talking about the possibility of the party's merger with the PTI in January this year. On March 7, the former Punjab chief minister was formally appointed as the PTI president.
The senior politician urged the former CM to convince Moonis and his family for rejoining the PML-Q.
Ahead of Shujaat’s visit, a medical team also arrived at the camp jail and conducted a medical examination of the former chief minister.
The sources added that the senior politician will meet Elahi again in the next few days.
Last month, Shujaat visited Elahi in Camp Jail, Lahore, amid the mass exodus of leaders from the former ruling party.
Officials, who had knowledge about the visit, shared that Salik Hussain was also present at the meeting. Shujaat inquired about his cousin’s health and discussed the evolving political situation in the country after the May 9 riots, the sources said.
Talking exclusively to Geo News, the PML-Q president confirmed the report about his meeting with Elahi in the prison.
“Parvez Elahi is part of our family, hence I visited him [in jail],” he added. Giving details, the senior politician said, Elahi’s health condition was not good and his feet were also swollen.
When asked if Elahi is rejoining the PML-Q, Shujaat said: “Parvez Elahi is already in our party.”
It may be noted that 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.
After a district court in Lahore ordered his release on June 2, the PTI president was arrested again in a corruption case registered against him in Gujranwala by Punjab ACE.
He was then presented before a court in Gujranwala the next day, which later discharged him in the two corruption cases registered in the district's anti-corruption police station for allegedly taking kickbacks in the development funds allocated for the construction of roads in Gujrat.
However, he was re-arrested by anti-corruption personnel minutes later, in a case registered against him for the alleged illegal recruitment in the Punjab Assembly when he was the speaker.
On June 21, the FIA took the former Punjab chief minister into custody in a money laundering case, just a day after he secured bail in the illegal recruitment case. Elahi on June 24 once again secured post-arrest bail from Lahore’s special central court in a money laundering case.
He, however, sent behind the bars once again shortly after being released on the court’s order on June 26. That time, he was taken into custody in a case related to suspicious transactions worth millions of rupees.
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