Imran Khan's party president arrested in Lahore

Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, former chief minister of Punjab and president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was arrested in Lahore on Thursday, report Pakistan media.

His arrest comes days after a district and sessions court in Lahore had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant.
According to the court decision last week, the warrant was issued at the request of an investigating officer (IO) since Elahi had been "avoiding arrest".

"The pre-arrest bail of the accused was dismissed due to non-prosecution vide order dated May 25 and he is not appearing before the court and also not joining the investigation. In view of the request of the IO, let non-bailable arrest warrants of accused Chaudhry Parvez Elahi be issued for June 2, 2023," it reads.

Police have attempted to arrest the former chief minister of Punjab several times over the past few days.

On Thursday, police raided his Lahore residence twice after an Anti-Corruption Court dismissed his pre-arrest bail in a case pertaining to irregularities in development projects launched during his term as the Punjab chief minister, but failed to arrest him as he was not available.

In an earlier media interview, Elahi's lawyer Asim Chaudhry said the police would only be able to enter his client's Lahore home with a search warrant.

He maintained that his client's bail was dismissed on the basis of a report declaring a previously submitted medical report of Elahi as fake.

"We are now challenging the report," he added.

Since May 9 riots and attacks on military installations, the authorities have arrested several high-profile PTI leaders.