PTI President Pervaiz Elahi was re-arrested on Friday, but this time by the Islamabad police. He was taken into custody while he was en route to his house in Gulberg hours after the court ordered his release.

A video of the development shared by his son Moonis Elahi on X, formerly known as Twitter, showed that men in civil dress dragged him out of the car and whisked him away into an Islamabad police vehicle.

Pervaiz was on his way home after the Lahore High Court ordered his release in an appeal filed against his arrest by the National Accountability Bureau. The court also ordered that Pervaiz should not be arrested in any other case.

He was arrested under the 3MPO (Maintenance of Public Order) Ordinance, the federal capital police said in a post. They added that he was being shifted to jail but did not name the prison.

The former chief minister of Punjab would be shifted to Adiala Jail for 15 days, sources told Aaj News.

The law is meant for preventive detention and a person could be detained if his activities are prejudicial to public safety or maintenance of public order.

Moonis described his father’s re-arrest as “abduction”. He lamented the way court orders were “flouted” by the institutions.

“After high court’s orders and on the Judge’s instructions police including court security were taking my father home. As the car entered our street, it was stopped and he was abducted. If court orders are going to be ridiculed like this maybe they should officially declare it,” he wrote on social media.

The PTI claimed that Pervaiz was arrested for showing steadfast loyalty to Imran Khan and not addressing a press conference.

Officials of FIA, NAB tussle with each other

Soon after the court ordered the release of the former chief minister of Punjab, officials of the Federal Investigation Agency arrived outside the court to rearrest him in another case.

The officials of both institutions were involved in a tussle as the FIA officials were thrown out by the NAB officials after they entered the vehicle carrying the former CM of Punjab.

The NAB officials refused to let the investigation agency arrest the former chief minister after the court ordered his release and directed that he should not be arrested in any other case.

‘Still standing with PTI’

Pervaiz declined to do a press conference, saying that he was still standing with the PTI, “Did I spend four months inside for nothing?”

Pervaiz appear in court

Earlier, the PTI president was not produced in court when proceedings began in his appeal on Friday. When asked why he had not been presented by 10am as assured by NAB, the prosecutor said that the government had refused to provide security.

In turn, the Punjab government’s lawyer said that they had not received the orders of the court. The lawyer added that the police were busy in operations against the riverine dacoits and could not be spared for security duty.

Justice Amjad Rafique rejected the reasons cited by the NAB prosecutor and told NAB to produce Elahi in court within one hour otherwise warrants would be issued for the bureau’s director general.

The advocate general then told the court that the government had no objection to presenting Perviaz provided the court took responsibility.

Justice Rafique told the advocate general that his remarks amounted to ‘humiliating’ the court and making a joke out of a constitutional body.

The court then decided to take a break in proceedings and summon the district commissioner. However, when the proceedings resumed neither the NAB prosecutor nor the advocate general appeared, despite repeated summons. The court was forced to take another break.

NAB finally decided to present Elahi in court when the hearing resumed at 12:15pm. The court then granted him bail.

Pervaiz was arrested on June 1 from outside his residence in Lahore with images of his arrest flashed across TV screens.

He has spent three months behind bars. He was initially kept in Camp Jail Lahore, then moved to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi and then to NAB’s Lahore office. He is accused of corruption in development funds allocated for Gujrat.