By Irum Saleem
What a shame for the PDM government and on the top of that for Mohsin Naqvi’s caretaker setup for launching a shameful attack on PTI President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s Lahore residence.
Most the media named and shamed the PDM and Naqvi for carrying out the uncalled for act apparently at the best of their handlers.
Dawn in it’s editorial took on the notorious elements saying “same tactics, different faces. Governments may come and go, but a destructive politics of vengeance continues to poison the atmosphere.”
On Friday night, a raiding party of Anti-Corruption Establishment and Punjab police officials used an armoured vehicle to break open the main gate of PTI president Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s residence in Lahore in an effort to arrest him. Upon entering the house, riot police set upon the occupants with batons and later took 25 people into custody.
Despite Mr Elahi’s lawyers saying that a court had granted him pre-arrest bail in a corruption case, the ACE team insisted that the former Punjab chief minister was wanted in a new case and they would not leave without him. The operation, which continued until 5am, was unable to locate Mr Elahi despite a thorough search of his residence. Not content with this unwarranted show of brute force, the police yesterday booked the PTI president on terror charges, claiming that its personnel were “attacked with stones, batons and petrol” during the raid.
No longer is there even a pretence of the rule of law in the government’s conduct vis-à-vis the opposition. Last month, the police used heavy machinery to break into Imran Khan’s residence in Lahore while he was on his way to Islamabad to attend a hearing in the Toshakhana case, and his wife and sister were present in the house.
“Arrests of PTI leaders, allied politicians, and critics of the PDM on flimsy pretexts — including spreading hatred — have gathered steam. At least two PTI social media activists went ‘missing’ for a time.
“But instead of demonstrating maturity and bringing some civility to the political environment, the coalition government has embarked on a wholesale witch-hunt of the opposition without an iota of shame. Last month, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah bluntly cast the tussle in existential terms. “Now either [Mr Khan] will be eliminated from the political arena or us.” This is not the language of leaders that are looking to consolidate the country’s future; this is selfish, bare-knuckle revenge politics.”
The PMLN shouldn’t forget that it will have to pay back for it’s brutal actions against the opposition. The PMLN always goes for such tactics when it has the backing of the establishment.
The most shameful act of the puppet regime is that it has made a joke of terrorism sections. Instead of apologizing from the Elahi family for attacking his house, the government booked him under terrorism charges. What a shame! PAK DESTINY
