LHC directed police not to impede Qaisara Elahi, wife of Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, from submitting nomination papers to relevant officers       Former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi. — Radio Pakistan/File

LAHORE: Lahore High Court Justice Ali Baqar Najafi has directed regional police officer (RPO), Gujranwala, as well as district police officers (DPOs) of Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin to adhere strictly to legal protocols, emphasising that they must not impede Qaisara Elahi, wife of Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, from submitting her nomination papers to relevant officers.

The directive stemmed from a plea filed by petitioner Qaisara Elahi in the LHC, stating that her husband Parvez Elahi and son Moonis Elahi wanted to contest general election, scheduled for February 8. Their target constituencies include NA-69 and NA-64 for the National Assembly and PP-64 and PP-32 for the provincial assembly. To facilitate submission of their nomination papers, authorised individuals were appointed to represent them before the returning officers of the respective constituencies.

However, Qaisara claimed that those individuals were facing obstruction from the Punjab police, including illegal abduction. Highlighting the constitutional provision in Article 4, which guarantees the inalienable right of every citizen to be treated in accordance with the law, the petitioner argued that they were currently being subjected to treatment based on preferences of individuals in power.

The petitioner pleaded with the court to direct the police authorities to refrain from harassing, abducting and arresting the authorised representatives of herself, her husband, and son in the process of submitting their nomination papers.

Moonis Elahi said in a social media statement that earlier Friday, Qaisara Elahi and her sister Sumaira Elahi were not allowed to file their nomination papers, as the police deployed at the office of returning officer (RO) for NA-64 did not let them enter the premises.

Later, in the evening, she reached the RO office at last, according to the sources, and succeeded in filing the nomination papers. However, a man tried to snatch the documents from her at the gate of the RO office but failed. Moonis also shared a video clip of the incident on social media.