ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani accountability court judge recently barred former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, from issuing “derogatory” or “inflammatory” statements against state institutions and their officials. 

Khan, who was PM from 2018-2022, remains jailed in multiple cases, including a 14-year jail sentence for him and his wife for the illegal sale of state gifts. Khan was first imprisoned after being handed a three-year prison sentence in August 2023 by the Election Commission for not declaring assets earned from selling gifts worth more than 140 million rupees ($501,000) in state possession and received during his premiership. In January, Khan and wife Bushra Bibi were handed 14-year jail terms following a separate investigation by the country’s top anti-graft body into the same charges involving state gifts. 

Khan blames Pakistan’s powerful military, which has ruled the country directly for over 30 years, for colluding with his rivals to remove him from office via a parliamentary vote in April 2022 and subsequently cracking down on his supporters. The military denies his accusations and has repeatedly said it does not interfere in political matters. 

On Friday, accountability court judge Nasir Javed Rana heard Khan’s petition requesting a fair trial. The PTI founder had sought the removal of glass and wooden structures erected at the Central Prison in Rawalpindi, where an appeal against his conviction is being heard. He had also alleged that reporters were not being allowed to attend proceedings, saying that the actions violated the principles of an open trial ordered by the court. 

“The accused persons shall refrain from making any political, inflammatory and/or derogatory statements vis-a-vis state institutions and the officials insinuating anything to them,” a copy of the order, seen by Arab News that emerged on Thursday, read. 

“The media personnel shall confine their reporting to the proceedings of the trial and shall not publish/report any statements in the trial proceedings, as witness or as counsel,” it added. 

Khan’s convictions mean he is banned from holding public office and ruled the 71-year-old out of general elections earlier this year. Arguably Pakistan’s most popular politician, Khan says all cases against him are motivated to keep him out of politics.

Tensions between Khan and the military escalated in May 2023, when angry supporters of his party took to the streets in response to his brief detention, and torched government buildings and ransacked military installations in many parts of the country. 

The army cracked down on Khan’s supporters and leaders following the attacks. Khan denied he had incited his supporters to protest violently, saying he was in detention when they erupted. 
 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Ambassador Asif Durrani acknowledged that his country had suffered a great deal more due to the volatility in its northwestern neighborhood than its recurrent wars in the east with nuclear-armed India while addressing a conference on Wednesday.

Durrani issued the statement during a penal discussion at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad while sharing a broad overview of his country’s threat perception. Pakistan blamed the administration in Kabul last year in November for not doing enough to address its security concerns by clamping down on militants operating from Afghanistan.

It even maintained there was enough evidence that Afghan authorities were “facilitating” attacks launched by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) against its people and security forces. Subsequently, Pakistan started deporting “illegal immigrants,” mostly Afghans, from its cities while citing security reasons.

“Afghanistan has become a permanent fixture in Pakistan’s regional paradigm for over four decades,” Durrani told the gathering. “In terms of blood and treasure, Pakistan has suffered more due to the Afghan imbroglio than its three wars with India.”

“Over 80,000 Pakistanis have died in the past two decades during the so-called war on terror,” he continued. “The country is still counting its dead and injured. After the withdrawal of the NATO forces, it was hoped that peace in Afghanistan would bring peace in the region. However, such expectations were short-lived.”

Durrani maintained that TTP attacked had increased by 65 percent after the departure of international forces while suicide bombings had shot up by 500 percent.

“The TTP’s enhanced attacks on Pakistan while using Afghan soil have been a serious concern for Pakistan,” he said. “Another worrying aspect is the participation of Afghan nationals in these attacks.”

He hoped that his country would overcome threats emerging from Afghanistan through diplomatic means, though he warned of the rising tensions in the Middle East while pointing out that the Iran-Israel conflict, if not contained, could engulf the whole region.

“Pakistan will also suffer,” he added.

Durrani said the estimated economic cost suffered by his country since the US-led “war on terror” was somewhere around $150 billion.