Elahi’s Dilemma

Parvez Elahi wants to cruise along with PTI, but not at the cost of damaging his old ties

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is walking a tight rope and facing multi-pronged challenges while trying hard to maintain a balance.

Apparently, his government is head-on with the PML-N led coalition government in Islamabad, but maintaining balance in Punjab on the issue of governance with his political partner PTI is also an uphill task. PTI Chairman Imran Khan wants to keep control of Punjab and use it against his fight with the federal government and build pressure on the Establishment.

The PTI’s tactics to ramp-up pressure on the establishment is a red-line that Pervaiz Elahi does not want to cross. He wants to cruise along with the PTI in Punjab, but not at the cost of damaging his old ties with the powers that be.

A couple of days back, Elahi while talking to a local news channel, stated that he did not believe in the politics of confrontation. “We believe in winning the hearts of the people by serving them.” It clearly reflects that he wants the PTI leadership in Punjab to focus on delivering for masses instead of adopting the course of confrontation. Take his last three public statements, even the one in Gujrat on Friday evening, which clearly indicated that he is just focusing on public issues. Besides, he has not yet uttered a single word on the Shahbaz Gill issue or about the PTI’s continuous onslaught against the PML-N leaders.

Contrary to Elahi’s statements, the PTI leadership believes in the policy of tit-for-tat. They appear focused on tightening the noose around the PML-N leadership in Punjab on the pretext of avenging those responsible for the 25th May crackdown.

In fact, Punjab Home Minister Hashim Dogar has prepared a list of the PML-N leaders who are to be targeted and the police have already raided the residences of Attaullah Tarar and Rana Mashood in this regard.

In addition to it, the Lahore police on Friday sought non-bailable arrest warrants of 12 PML-N leaders including Rana Mashud, Atta Tarar, Malik Ghulam Habib Awan, Sardar Awais Leghari, Mirza Javed, Saif-ul-Malook Khokhar, Khizar Hayat Khagga, Raja Sagheer and others.  Right after the police was granted non-bailable arrest warrants of the PML-N leaders by the court, it again raided the residence of Rana Mashud on Friday afternoon.

The situation became grimer when the federal government arrested PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s Chief of Staff Shahbaz Gill after registration of an FIR against him on the charge of making a controversial statement on a local news channel.

Gill was later shifted to Adiala Jail on judicial remand and immediately after that, testing times for the PTI coalition government in Punjab started. Elahi knew exactly the sensitivity involved in the arrest of Shahbaz Gill and he condemned the content of his statement against the ‘institution’.

The PTI, however, is not ready to leave their key member in the lurch. The statement of Imran Khan during a television interview that Shahbaz Gill was severely tortured during his custody with the Islamabad Police added fuel to fire.

A delegation of the PTI stalwarts led by Umar Ayub was sent to meet Shahbaz Gill in the jail which fell within the jurisdiction of the Punjab government. Surprisingly, the jail staff disallowed the PTI leadership to have access to Shahbaz Gill, claiming that there were no such instructions from their hierarchy.

Even IG Prisons showed his inability to allow them the access and claimed that he required permission from the Chief Minister. Later, the Punjab Home Minister Hashim Dogar had to fix his tour of Adiala Jail to meet Shahbaz Gill with a bunch of PTI leaders.

The situation became more serious when the Islamabad High Court, on the petition of Islamabad Police, ordered the custody of Shahbaz Gill to the Islamabad Police. The PTI leadership was annoyed with the court decision and decided that they would not handover Shahbaz Gill to Islamabad Police, come what may. The situation reached an extent that Imran Khan called Chief Secretary Punjab Kamran Ali Afzal for issuing directions to shift Shahbaz Gill to District Headquarter Hospital, Rawalpindi instead of handing him over to Islamabad Police.

Nevertheless, the CS excused the PTI chairman on the pretext that it did not fall within his jurisdiction as Additional Chief Secretary Home was dealing with it.

Following immense pressure from the PTI leadership, the Punjab government dispatched officials from Rawalpindi Police to Adiala Jail for the custody of Shahbaz Gill and asked for him to be moved to DHQ Rawalpindi.

There was a clear standoff between the Islamabad Police and Rawalpindi Police for a few hours in front of the Adiala Jail, but the moment the Interior Minister announced sending Rangers, Elahi removed the Rawalpindi Police from the premises and ordered the jail authorities to hand over Shahbaz Gill to Islamabad Police.

Now it was quite clear to the top PTI management that the Punjab bureaucracy was not cooperating with them on this particular issue. Following the chain of events, the PTI chief Imran Khan finally called Pervaiz Elahi and after exchanging hot words conveyed him for the immediate replacement of current Chief Secretary. In pursuance to Imran Khan’s direction, the summary released by Punjab government to the federal government for the immediate replacement of Chief Secretary contained names which had already been rejected by the Establishment division.

The Punjab government has sent three names to the federal government, including Babar Tarar, Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera and Abdullah Sumbal. The very names were suggesting that Pervaiz Elahi wanted to retain the incumbent Chief Secretary.

As per expectations, the federal government rejected all the names forwarded by the provincial government. Insiders claim that Elahi is quite comfortable with the incumbent Chief Secretary and despite serious pressure from PTI he is not going to change him.

The PTI leadership on Thursday constituted a four-member committee comprising Speaker Punjab Assembly Sibtain Khan, Shafqat Mahmood, Hassan Khawar and Umar Cheema to settle the difference pertaining to the appointments bureaucrats and power sharing formula.

The Shahbaz Gill episode has exposed the Punjab bureaucracy, which is not following the PTI’s directions and even the CM is not standing by their side.

It is quite clear that Pervaiz Elahi is not prepared to cross the thin line which can put him and his government in hot waters.

Talking with this scribe, the Punjab Parliamentary Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja was of the view that both PTI and PML-Q are on the same page and Imran Khan’s policies are fully being implemented in Punjab. Even on the issue of Shahbaz Gill, he said there are no differences between the PTI and PML-Q. Regarding Imran Khan’s exchange of hot words with Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi on the issue of Punjab Chief Secretary, he expressed his complete ignorance on this issue.