Punjab withdraws Elite Force protocol from minister Salik Hussain

LAHORE: The Punjab government has withdrawn the permanent Elite Force security protocol for Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Chaudhry Salik Hussain and other federal ministers, and ordered the personnel on that duty back to their units.

Punjab Police sources said Elite Force staff assigned to protocol duty with federal ministers had been directed to report to their units. Federal ministers visiting Punjab will still be given temporary security during their stay in the province.

Salik Hussain confirmed that his permanent Elite Force detail had been withdrawn. PML-Q spokesperson Mustafa Malik also confirmed the withdrawal, Samaa reported.

The Nation reported that police security was withdrawn from Salik House, the minister's residence in Gujrat, and that police protection was also withdrawn from his cousin Chaudhry Musa Elahi, a PML-Q MPA from Gujrat and the son of Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain.

Musa Elahi said the move would not stop the family's demand for new provinces. "Whether they withdraw security or do whatever they want, the new provinces will be established in any case," he said, according to The Nation.

The withdrawal comes during a public row between the PML-N-led provincial government and its coalition partner PML-Q, which began with Salik Hussain's allegations of corruption in Punjab and remarks by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

Speaking to private television channels, Salik Hussain said he would not retract the allegations and would reply within days to a legal notice. Samaa reported that the notice demands Rs5 billion in damages for reputational harm. He said he had not named the chief minister. "I did not name the chief minister of Punjab; I spoke generally about a province," he said.

He said he was not asking for the security to be restored and that the real issue was the corruption he had raised. Asked why he did not resign from the federal ministry if he believed corruption was so widespread, he asked in turn why the chief minister did not resign. He said his party would leave the ministry when those it negotiated the alliance with gave the signal.

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari rejected the allegations and criticised the Chaudhry family, Pakistan Observer reported. She compared Salik Hussain with Moonis Elahi and said he should give up his federal ministry if he could not defend his claims. Bokhari questioned how PML-Q representatives could accuse the provincial government of corruption while seeking funds from it, and said Maryam Nawaz had delivered development in Gujrat that earlier Chaudhry family leadership had not.

Mustafa Malik said Salik Hussain had spoken the truth about corruption and had public support, according to Samaa. He said the chief minister could not tolerate criticism.

Salik Hussain told the channels that corruption had also occurred in Punjab between 2003 and 2008 and that he had heard accounts of it during the PTI-led provincial government.