ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan lodged a complaint against the chief of the country’s anti-graft body with the Supreme Judicial Council, accusing him of “illegally” arresting him in a land fraud case last month and calling it a case of misuse of authority which deprived him of fundamental rights.
Khan, who has been involved in over a hundred legal cases since his removal from the office of the prime minister in 2022, was arrested on May 9 from the Islamabad High Court on the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) instruction.
He maintains his innocence and filed a petition against his arrest at the Supreme Judicial Council, a constitutional forum which handles cases of misconduct against judges and chiefs of Pakistan’s anti-graft and election regulatory bodies.
“The complainant brings into kind attention/notice of this honorable council a ‘gross misconduct’ comprising actions, commissions, and omissions of the Chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lt General (retd) Nazir Ahmad,” said Khan’s complaint, a copy of which is available with Arab News.
It noted that Khan’s arrest warrants were issued on May 1, which was a public holiday, and they were not implemented for about eight days. The document maintained the former prime minister was deliberately kept unaware of the investigation being conducted against him in the Al-Qadir Trust inquiry, which ultimately led to his arrest in the land fraud case.
It continued that keeping the conversion of an inquiry into an investigation a secret was a violation of the NAB law, adding that Ahmad’s misconduct fell within the grounds for removal from office as stipulated under Article 209 of the constitution.
In addition to requesting the removal of the NAB chief, Khan initiated defamation proceedings against him last week and sent him a notice of damages amounting to Rs15 billion.
Meanwhile, Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, have been summoned by NAB on Wednesday in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
Pakistan has experienced political turbulence since Khan’s removal after he started organizing street protests and demanding fresh elections.
The country also faced an economic crisis, characterized by high inflation, a depreciating currency, and the possibility of a debt default, which contributed to the overall instability.
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