Punjab CM election: Elahi accuses Sanaullah of tasking IB with ‘tracing location’ of legislators

Lahore: PML-Q leader and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi on Tuesday alleged that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had been using the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to “trace the location” of party MPAs ahead of Punjab chief minister's election on July 22.

He further alleged that the minister was doing it to influence the upcoming election.

The Supreme Court had on July 1 ruled that a new Punjab chief minister election would take place on July 22 and said incumbent Hamza Shehbaz would remain in office till then as it heard the PTI and the PML-Q’s pleas against Hamza’s election and oath-taking.

Flanked by PTI and PML-Q leaders in Lahore, Elahi -- who is himself is a candidate for top slot -- told a press conference in the Punjab Assembly that IB Director General Fawad Asadullah “must refrain from such acts as he was monitoring the locations of PML-Q and PTI lawmakers at the behest of Shehbaz Sharif and Sanaullah”.

“It is my warning to the IB head that he must stop doing this.”

He went on to allege that PM Shehbaz had “formed a cell” specifically for the purpose to keep watch on rival MPAs as the chief minister’s election approaches.

“They lost the public trust and now they are resorting to such cheap tactics,” Elahi added.

In response to a question on whether any “other forces” were backing the IB, the PML-Q leader said “only the prime minister is backing it”.

He also claimed that a man associated with the PML-Q who had businesses overseas was also recently picked by the IB from the Lahore airport “for no reason”.

Elahi said the Sharifs had not learned anything from the past, adding Maryam Nawaz had given a very good statement by admitting defeat in the by-elections.

"Inflation is on the rise in the country, Miftah has now become ‘Mufta’, they still haven’t received anything from the IMF."

To a question, Elahi said the Supreme Court's orders is that the election of the Chief Minister should be held first on July 22, after which the IG and the Chief Secretary should not only be removed but also punished.

Speaking on the occasion, PTI leader Mian Mehmood-ur-Rashid said the members of the PTI core committee had approved the name of Ch Pervez Elahi to be the Chief Minister Punjab.

"Our newly elected members will be sworn in by tomorrow. We have a lead of 14 votes for the election of Chief Minister, PML-N should accept defeat and accept our mandate, I warn PML-N, bureaucrats and police not to do anything illegal."

The session of the Punjab Assembly began under the chairmanship of Speaker Ch Pervez Elahi.

After the recitation of the Holy Quran and Naat Sharif, Deputy Opposition Leader Muhammad Basharat Raja presented a resolution against the interference of government agencies on the occasion of the election of the Chief Minister, which was unanimously approved by the House.

The resolution said the government's secret agencies and other institutions are tracking the members of the opposition. State machinery is being used relentlessly against the opposition, government, State terrorism is on the rise and our members are being pressured and intimidated.

The resolution further stated that the election of the Chief Minister is being conducted on July 22 on the orders of the Supreme Court, interfering and obstructing this process is considered contempt of court, institutions should be restrained from interfering and our mandate should be respected. Later, the resolution was unanimously approved.

PTI's Mian Mehmood-ul-Rashid, Sabtain Khan, Ali Abbas and others were also present.