Moonis to return home when Nawaz comes back: Elahi

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Central President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said on Sunday his son and former federal minister Moonis Elahi would also return to Pakistan when PMLN supremo Nawaz Sharif would come back. He was replying to a question about Moonis Elahi’s return to the country. According to media reports, Moonis left for Spain in the last week of December 2022, and he was still living there “to avoid political victimisation in the country”.

Addressing a press conference, along with Lahore High Court Bar Association President Ishtiaq A Khan and Advocate Amir Saeed Rawn here, Elahi said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had gone to London to seek fresh instructions from PMLN supremo and his elder brother Nawaz Sharif against the Supreme Court.

Elahi sarcastically talked of Shehbaz Sharif attending the coronation ceremony of King Charles III. “In the presence of Shehbaz Sharif at the coronation ceremony, there was great fear of the disappearance of the crown. It was saved with great difficulty,” said the Chaudhry.

The Sharif brothers are sitting in London actually to hatch conspiracies against the judiciary, Elahi said and added that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition government was playing with the country. Except for Islamabad, the entire country had been turned into a prison, former chief minister Punjab alleged.

“If anyone wants to stay in this country, he should get bail. We pay tribute to the judiciary which has saved the system of the country until now,” Elahi said and added that had there been no judiciary in the country, it was difficult to live here.

Elahi said Nawaz Sharif was an absconder, adding that Defence Minister Khawaja Asif did not speak himself, but the language and thought of his friend Nawaz Sharif was behind his statements.

He alleged that “puppet” [caretaker chief minister Punjab] Mohsin Naqvi, wearing pants and walking here and there, was an embodiment of the late Sindh CM Jam Sadiq. Elahi said his [Naqvi’s] cabinet term had ended, but they were still drawing salaries and perks from the public treasury.

Elahi said the court had pardoned the illegal attack on his house, but he had not forgiven. The policemen robbed the house and took away mobile phones, wallets and motorcycles of the guests, who had come there. He said 20 of his people were still in jail, and more than 17 cases had been registered against him.

Elahi said, “Our close neighbours did not even ask us about the incident, and no one apologised. Mohsin Naqvi broke the gate of my house but went to the neighbours to apologise.”

Elahi said more than 127 false cases had been fabricated against Imran Khan, just like in the past, when a false case was fabricated against Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi about a buffalo theft, which is famous today. He said, “If we get a chance, we will come up with a system comprising retired judges, who will not allow such heinous acts to happen. Yet those who do so will be punished in a real sense.”

The former CM of Punjab said the SC decisions based on the supremacy of the Constitution had thwarted Nawaz Sharif’s plans to return to Pakistan. His desire to humiliate Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial would never be fulfilled, Elahi said, adding that Pakistan had been kept united by the Constitution and Imran Khan.

The former CM of Punjab said the Chinese foreign minister’s statement that the political forces in Pakistan should come together for stability was enough for the incompetent government if they understand it. He said Abid Zuberi is the constitutional president of the Supreme Court Bar, and the PDM government punished him for speaking in favour of the judiciary. His restoration was a victory of the Constitution, he added.