ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said on Tuesday it would challenge the “false cases” against its founding leader after an accountability court indicted him and his wife in a case involving the illegal sale of state gifts.
Khan, who was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in April 2022, has been facing a slew of legal cases which PTI says are meant to keep him away from Pakistan’s political landscape ahead of the next national elections.
Currently, he is serving a three-year sentence at a high-security prison in Rawalpindi in a case popularly known as the Toshakhana – or state repository – reference after a local court convicted him in response to a complaint filed by the election commission for not stating the details of the gifts he retained in his financial statement.
The country’s anti-graft body filed another reference as an extension of the same case in which it accused him and his wife, Bushra Bibi, getting an undervalued market assessment of an expensive jewelry set before keeping it for personal use.
The couple is also facing the allegation of accepting land and financial donations under dubious circumstances in another reference called the Al-Qadir case.
“We had completed our arguments on Imran Khan’s bail in the Al-Qadir and Toshakhana cases almost three weeks ago, but there were delays,” Naeem Haider Panjutha, Khan’s spokesman on legal affairs, said in a social media post. “Sometimes the prosecutor had back pain, sometimes he was unwell and sometimes dates were set just like that.”
“Three weeks later, Judge Bashir made a decision [of indictment] that was known from the first day,” he continued. “We will challenge it in the high court. These are false cases with no kind of evidence whatsoever.”
According to the local media, the indictment took place during a hearing of the case in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail where Khan has been incarcerated.
The former Pakistani prime minister is also facing prison trial on charges of divulging state secrets.
He was also “arrested” on Tuesday in another case in which the authorities plan to try him for instigating an attack on the army headquarters last year in May after he was briefly arrested on corruption allegations from the compound of the Islamabad High Court.
Imran Khan’s party to challenge cases after ex-PM, spouse indicted in state gifts case
https://arab.news/9hvnf
Imran Khan’s party to challenge cases after ex-PM, spouse indicted in state gifts case
- Indictment took place during a hearing of the case in a high-security prison in Rawalpindi where Khan is incarcerated
- The former prime minister was also ‘arrested’ on charges of instigating attack on the army headquarters last year in May
Peace can only prevail if Afghanistan renounces support for ‘terrorism’— Pakistan defense chief
- Pakistan’s chief of defense forces visits South Waziristan district bordering Afghanistan
- Pakistan says has killed 481 Afghan Taliban operatives since clashes began last Thursday
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir said on Wednesday that peace with Afghanistan can only prevail if Kabul renounces support for “terrorism” and “terrorist” organizations, the military’s media wing said as the two countries remain locked in conflict.
Fighting between the two neighbors, the worst in decades, broke out last Thursday night after Afghan forces attacked Pakistan’s military installations along their shared border. Afghanistan said its attacks were in response to earlier airstrikes by Pakistan against alleged militant hideouts in its country.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of sheltering militant outfits such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on its soil who have launched attacks against Pakistani civilians and security forces in recent years. Kabul denies the allegations.
Munir visited Wana town in Pakistan’s South Waziristan district to review the security situation and troops’ operational preparedness at the Afghan border, the Pakistani military’s media wing said in a statement.
“The Field Marshal reiterated that peace could only prevail between both sides if the Afghan Taliban renounced their support for terrorism and terrorist organizations,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
The military chief said the use of Afghan soil by militant outfits to launch attacks against Pakistan was unacceptable, vowing that “all necessary measures” would be taken to neutralize cross-border threats.
During the visit, Munir was briefed by military commanders about ongoing intelligence-based operations and measures being taken by the military to manage the border with Afghanistan.
He was also briefed about “Operation Ghazab Lil Haq” or “Wrath for the Truth,” the name Pakistan has given to its military operation against Afghan forces, the ISPR said.
The Pakistani military chief spoke to troops deployed in the area, praising their vigilance, professional conduct and high morale, the ISPR said.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday that the military has killed 481 Taliban operatives, injured more than 690 and destroyed 226 Afghan checkposts since clashes began.
Arab News has been unable to verify claims by both sides about the damages they claim to have inflicted on each other.
Afghanistan has signaled it is open for dialogue but Pakistan rejected the offer, saying it would continue its military operations till its objectives were achieved.
Since the conflict began, diplomatic efforts have intensified with several countries, including global bodies such as the European Union and United Nations, urging restraint and calling for talks.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that Ankara would help reinstate a ceasefire, the Turkish Presidency said on Tuesday, as other countries that had offered to mediate have since been hit by the conflict in the Gulf.
