Chaudhrys of Gujrat steal the limelight despite a few seats in bag

LAHORE: Despite enjoying a frail support of their party members elected to the country’s legislative houses, both Shujaat Hussain and Pervaiz Elahi have gained immense media attention of late as the future of much larger political entities, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), hinges on the decisive roles the duo might play in coming days.

Although the 77-year-old first cousins, Shujaat and Pervaiz, are part of rival camps for the first time in their respective political journeys, having split up after contesting the 2018 polls together under the banner of PML-Q, the sides they are supporting are heavily banking upon their decisions now in this toxic environment.

Currently, the PML-Q has five seats in the National Assembly (just 1.01pc votes), it had won a solitary Senate seat in 2021, triumphed on only 10 out of 371 seats in the 2018 Punjab Assembly polls (just 1.19pc votes), does not a have single seat in the Sindh Assembly, and this King’s Party of yesteryear could succeed in seizing just a single seat out of a house of 145 in the last Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly ballot exercise.

While Chaudhry Shujaat and his son Salik Hussain stand firm with the sitting PDM government, having lent vital support with just a few votes in the bag to sitting Premier Shehbaz Sharif about eight months ago, Pervaiz and his son Moonis are being looked at quite suspiciously by their key ally—the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

With support of just 10 PML-Q members in the Punjab Assembly, Pervaiz Elahi first bargained to get the speaker’s slot in the Punjab Assembly after the 2018 polls, and then successfully negotiated with allies PTI to become chief minister in 2022.

Much like the Abdul Ghaffar Khan alias Bacha Khan family of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Chaudhrys of Gujrat are one of the country’s oldest political dynasties, who not only know the art of winning keys to the power corridors, but are also adept at traits that help them persevere when the wind is not blowing in their favour.

Shujaat’s father Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi was once a diehard supporter of former president Ayub Khan six decades ago, but when the-then Punjab Governor Malik Ameer Muhammad Khan (the Nawab of Kalabagh) started backing his political opponents in Gujrat, he opted to part ways with the military ruler.

Long after Zahoor Elahi’s murder in Lahore, times saw his grandson Chaudhry Hussain Elahi (son of Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain) getting married in Ayub Khan’s family. Zahoor Elahi later opposed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and supported General Zia.

Shujaat and Pervaiz then remained an integral part of Nawaz Sharif’s two governments, before General Musharraf had dethroned the Sharifs in 1999. After the 1997 elections, political differences between Sharifs and Chaudhrys cropped up, leading to the creation of a rebellious faction within the PMLN.

Although Shujaat was appointed interior minister twice and Pervaiz Elahi was given Punjab’s speakership, the latter thought that late Mian Sharif had faltered on his promise to nominate him (Pervaiz) as Punjab’s chief minister.

During Musharraf’s rule, while the Sharifs were first sent behind bars and then flown to Saudi Arabia, Shujaat and Pervaiz went on strengthening the foundations of PML-Q. Shujaat then led the PML-Q after Mian Azhar was deposed, and became prime minister for just three months from June 2004 to August 2004 on a temporary basis.

On the other hand, Pervaiz headed Punjab between 2002 and 2007. In 2011, they (Chaudhrys) even embraced worst foes, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), when Pervaiz Elahi was appointed the first deputy premier in June 2012, about five years after Zardari had called the PML-Q “Qatil League” following the assassination of his wife, Benazir Bhutto.

In April 2022, Shujaat’s son Salik Hussain was appointed as federal minister by Premier Shehbaz Sharif after Zardari had repeatedly visited Shujaat to ensure that he did not change his mind and rejoin his estranged cousin Pervaiz Elahi in the opposite camp.

During their long political careers, the two Chaudhrys have been accused of minting money in the Cooperatives scam, sugar scandal, the hoodwinking of National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) and Bank of Punjab, besides being alleged of getting their loans written off.

They were booked in different cases framed at the behest of former premier Benazir Bhutto, and were consequently imprisoned for several months. Just ahead of the 1997 polls, when the late Interim Premier, Meraj Khalid, had announced that no one would be allowed to take part in the polls without retiring his or her bank loans, the Chaudhrys had to face grave pecuniary problems.

In order to pay off their loans, they reportedly had to sell their sugar and cotton units to settle their financial obligations. In March 2011, Moonis was arrested for his alleged involvement in a Rs3.3 billion National Insurance Corporation Limited land scam after a court had rejected his pre-arrest bail.

The ruling Pakistan People’s Party was accused by critics of compelling the PML-Q, which then had 55 seats in the Parliament, to join the government spearheaded by Zardari.

Once, the formidable Shujaat-Pervaiz Elahi duo had also lashed out at Imran Khan by demanding an audit into Shaukat Khanum Hospital accounts, after the PTI chief had dubbed Pervaiz Elahi as the “biggest dacoit” of Punjab.

But recent years saw Imran paying visits to Chaudhry Shujaat’s house to inquire about his health and then formed an alliance with Pervaiz Elahi in Punjab by first handing over the province’s speakership to him in 2018 and then gave him chief ministership in 2022 in the PMLN’s hatred.

Archives reveal that in 2018, when Imran had asked Pervaiz to assume charge as Punjab Assembly’ speaker, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was actually conducting an investigation against him on a 10-year-old complaint filed by none other than the PTI chairman himself.

Imran had alleged the Chaudhrys of getting Rs240 million loan for their Punjab Sugar Mills waived off. On June 27, 2022, in an apparent reference to Imran Khan, Pervaiz Elahi’s son Moonis tweeted that the former premier had formally apologised to his father for calling him the “biggest dacoit” of Punjab.

And on September 2 this year, Pervaiz Elahi was quoted in the media as saying that no one could build Kalabagh Dam except Imran. Addressing a massive public rally at Gujrat’s Zahoor Elahi Stadium, Elahi had asserted: “Imran will again come into power with a two-third majority and will change the country’s map. We all should collectively pray for his health and longevity.”

It, however, goes without saying that although political success has not come easy for Pervaiz and Shujaat, they have otherwise gone on to strike good ‘business and political deals’ over the years.

The fact that the Chaudhrys are extremely good at making business deals can be adjudged from the fact that they had reportedly managed to sell one of their industrial units—the Kunjah Textiles—to a business house called the Acro Group for an eyebrow-raising amount of Rs1.2 billion.

Although the Kunjah Textiles was reportedly running in losses, the Chaudhrys allegedly sold it to Seth Akbar of the Acro Group, with mediatory roles played by none other than two of the country’s leading textile magnates—one of whom also owns a commercial bank too.

In return, as archival knowledge tells us, one of these textile tycoons was facilitated in a big way to set up a gas-based power plant, while the other was helped establish a furnace oil-based power plant.

An investigation into the Bank of Punjab scam had revealed that the Chaudhrys were assisted by yet another textile magnate to sell off their sugar unit (Phalia Sugar Mills) at lucrative profits. During their political lives, the Chaudhrys have had a few embarrassing moments too.

For example, Shujaat was first sent to Dera Bugti in March 2005 by General Musharraf to talk to the rebellious Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was at daggers’ drawn with the Pakistan Army. Parleys could not yield desired results and in August 2006, Bugti was killed during an army operation.

Two years later, Shujaat was entrusted with the task to peacefully settle the Lal Masjid issue with his “speedy wisdom.” After the negotiations failed, the Musharraf-led military had decided to take action on July 10, 2007.

“Operation Silence” was given a go-ahead and the Special Service Group was issued orders to storm the mosque and the rest is history. Last but not least, in January 2013, both Shujaat and Pervaiz had arrived at the residence of Tahirul Qadri to convince him to delay or cancel his January 2013 long march against the-then sitting PPP regime.

Qadri refused to meet the Chaudhrys because they were accompanied by one of the country’s most renowned property tycoons and a known power-broker, who thus had to leave the venue.

The cleric had then categorically declined to postpone his protest and reaffirmed his resolve thrice in the same breath that his long march could not be “purchased” by any “power-broker.”