An anti-terrorism court on Friday extended the judicial remand of former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi till October 24 in connection with the Federal Judicial Complex violence case.

Owing to the leave of ATC judge Abul Hasnaat Zulqarain, the former chief minister was produced before judge Shahrukh Arjumand.

During Friday’s proceedings, when the judge inquired if the challan for Elahi had been submitted, the court staff informed that only an extension in the remand had to be made, while the investigation officer said that a challan and notice had been received for Parvez Elahi.

Upon this, the judge remarked, “Let’s also schedule Parvez Elahi’s next hearing date along with the co-accused.”

But Elahi’s counsel Abdul Razzaq objected to October 24 as the next date for the hearing, saying that his client had to appear before a court in Lahore.

The judge, however, went on to fix October 24 as the next hearing.

Parvez Elahi, while interacting with reporters in the courtroom, welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict that dismissed a set of petitions contesting the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act, 2023.

He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had pinned many hopes on the apex court in the very case, adding that both PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party founder Jahangir Tareen won’t be able to benefit from this decision.

In response to a question, Parvez Elahi, who is also the president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Punjab chapter, replied that the next general elections would be meaningless without the participation of the PTI chairman. He however sounded confident that both the PTI chairman and vice-chairman would emerge successful in the cipher case.

Parvez Elahi also spoke about the substandard facilities being provided at the jail.

He complained he was suffering from food poisoning after having Thursday’s meal, adding that the jail authorities won’t allow him to call his personal doctor for routine check-ups either.

The PTI leader stated that the jail authorities were not ready to accept the court orders regarding the provision of facilities to him.

It is important to mention here that in June, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had directed the jail authorities to provide facilities to the former Punjab chief minister as per law.

Parvez Elahi also complained that he had no access to newspapers and television.

He further informed the media that the judge, who had visited the PTI chairman’s cell in Adiala Jail, did not visit him at his cell to see the facilities being provided to him.