‘Shujaat sent me to PTI’, claims incarcerated Parvez Elahi

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, who remains incarcerated in Adiala jail, claimed said that his cousin and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had greenlit his decision to join the Imran Khan-led party. “Chaudhry Shujaat himself sent me to PTI,” the former Punjab chief minister said on Wednesday at a local court in Islamabad. Elahi said that the PTI chief had promised to appoint him as the party president due to his sacrifices during the party’s tough times. The PTI leader is facing several cases including corruption, attack on the judicial complex and others, and has been behind bars for months as liberty eludes him every time he gets released from custody. He has been arrested multiple times in the past few months and the last arrest came on Tuesday when the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) took him into custody shortly after his release by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police on the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order. Elahi’s statement came in response to a question about why he was not rejoining the PML-Q. While talking to media persons outside an Islamabad court, the seasoned politician was asked why didn’t Shujaat himself did the same if he was behind the former’s decision to join PTI. “Shujaat Hussain did not join PTI due to [his son] Salik Hussain because he was very fond of becoming a minister,” Elahi said. However, in reaction to the PTI leader’s statement, Salik said that the former was venting out anger on him instead of his son Moonis Elahi. “Entire Pakistan and PTI knows who was fond of becoming a minister,” he said, adding that Shujaat requested the PTI chief to make Moonis a minister on Elahi’s insistence. He said that he never desired to become a minister. On February 21, Elahi announced joining the PTI along with 10 of his party’s former MPAs after Shujaat sacked him as PML-Q’s Punjab president and revoked his basic membership. Elahi said that the PTI chief had promised of appointing him as the party’s president due to his sacrifices during the party’s tough times.