
Former Punjab chief minister and PML-Q leader Pervaiz Elahi has apologized to the family of PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry, who was jailed on sedition charges earlier this week, on Thursday for stating the latter should have been arrested sooner.
Elahi criticized PTI leaders for “misleading” party president and former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a press conference earlier today. In response to the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly, the former Punjab Chief Minister stated that he had done all possible to persuade the PTI chairman not to dismiss the provincial legislature.
“Those connected to Khan Sahab are accountable for destroying the party’s roots,” he had remarked.
Elahi stated, without mentioning Fawad, that “if he had been detained sooner, things would have been better.” Elahi then apologized for his remarks, saying he had a long-standing relationship with Fawad Chaudhary’s family.
“My statement brought his family grief, for which I apologize,” he stated.
Fawad was taken into police custody on Wednesday morning from Lahore after an FIR was registered against him at Islamabad’s Kohsar police station by the Election Commission of Pakistan for “threatening” members of the commission, including the chief, and their families, and “inciting violence against a constitutional institution”.
The arrest of the outspoken opponent of the ruling PDM alliance during a predawn raid on his home may have dealt a blow to the party he serves as vice president.
Later that night, an Islamabad court issued a two-day physical remand to the PTI leader.