Amid rumours, Moonis Elahi says his father stands with PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader and former federal minister Chaudhry Moonis Elahi on Monday quashed rumours about his father’s return to the Shujaat-led Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), saying that Chaudhry Parvez Elahi was standing strong and there was no truth in such rumours.

“He’s in PTI and standing strong AH,” Moonis Elahi wrote on social media blogging site, Twitter, while responding to rumours about his father’s alleged return to the PML-Q fold.   

The clarification came following rumours spreading about Elahi’s return to the PML-Q after PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain held a quiet meeting with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) President Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and his cousin in Camp Jail, Lahore on Monday and inquired after his health.

Shujaat’s son, Salik Hussain, was also present during the meeting which lasted for about an hour. According to insiders, Shujaat inquired about his brother’s well-being. The meeting also involved discussions about the political situation in the country.

Sources privy to the meeting said that during the meeting, Chaudhry Shujaat persuaded Elahi to return to the PML-Q but Elahi resisted. The sources said that Shujaat also expressed concerns over the ill-treatment meted to Elahi. Later, Shujaat told media that Elahi looked frail and his feet were swollen.

Meanwhile, Elahi’s son Moonis Elahi tweeted that his father was not being allowed to meet his lawyers, while his mother is also not being granted permission for a meeting with Parvez Elahi.

Moonis said that Inspector General (IG) Prisons himself took Shujaat and his son Salik Hussain to meet Elahi, but Elahi’s lawyers and his mother were being denied permission for a meeting.

“Now they will say that they have already arranged meetings for family members this week,” he concluded.

The former chief minister was sent to prison on June 4 for a 14-day judicial remand by a judicial magistrate in Lahore after he was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) in a case pertaining to bribery and illegal recruitments.

Elahi is among the remaining members of the PTI leadership standing with the party. Most of the senior party leaders, including Fawad Chaudhry, Usman Buzdar, Maleeka Bokhari and Shireen Mazari, have called it quits, with some of them announcing a break from politics altogether.