Prison fails to change Parvez Elahi’s loyalty to Imran Khan: Qaisera

GUJRAT: Despite hardships and imprisonment, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President and former Punjab chief minister "Chaudhry Parvez Elahi is still sincerly stood with his party founder and ex-prime minister Imran Khan", said the former’s wife Qaisera Elahi.

Addressing a joint press conference along with Shujaat Hussain’s sister, Sumaira Elahi, in Gujrat on Monday, Qaisera said: “Parvez Elahi still sincerely stands with Imran Khan.”

At the same time, she blamed incumbent Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi for creating rift between her husband and PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

Differences emerged within the Chaudhry clan — an influential political family in Punjab’s Gujrat — last year after Elahi announced supporting PTI founder Imran Khan while his cousin Shujaat was standing with his old friends, PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and the Sharif family.

Referring to the upcoming by-election in PP-32 Gujrat constituency, she said: “I am surprised that 25-year-old milk-drinking baby Musa Elahi is contesting elections against 78-year-old Parvez Elahi.”

Musa Elahi is the son of Chaudhary Wajahat Hussain, the younger brother of the PML-Q chief.

“Parvez Elahi, at the age of 78, is still brave enough to bear hardships,” she added.

It is pertinent to mention here that Elahi has been lingering in prison since June 1 last year in connection with multiple cases registered against him.

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.

Firing a fresh salvo at the PML-Q leadership, she said: “Shujaat Hussain’s sons call themselves the heirs of Zahoor Elahi but his politics had never been like this.”

If Zahoor Elahi’s politics was to raid political opponents’ houses and picked them up, she asked.

Raising questions over the level playing field in the upcoming by-polls, Qaisera said that their polling agents and workers were being arrested by the police on the directions of their rival candidates.

It is pertinent to mention here that Elahi had announced to contest PP-32 by-election from Gujrat. The seat fell vacant after Chaudhry Salik Hussain retained his MNA seat.

She accused Salik Hussain and Shafay Hussain of violating the sanctity of “chadar and char dewari” — a metaphor used to show women's dignity and one's protection inside the four walls of the house.

She also accused the two brothers of stealing the February 8 general elections and vowed that they would not let it happen again in the by-polls.

“Shujaat Hussain’s son divided the family into two factions for power,” Qaisera alleged.

His sons used Shujaat as “tissue paper”, she insisted, adding that they split the family with the help of the interior minister.

“They are fighting for power and we for truth,” she added.