ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, was released from the central prison in Rawalpindi on Thursday a day after being granted bail in a case related to the sale of state gifts, ending nine months of her detention while her husband met his legal team in jail on the high court’s directions.
Bibi was released from jail after spending 265 days in the case after the Islamabad High Court granted her bail on Wednesday. Her release also takes place six months after an appeals court suspended a 14-year sentence the couple received after being found guilty of retaining and selling state gifts in violation of government rules when Khan was Pakistan’s prime minister.
The former prime minister and his wife, however, were charged in July with new counts of retaining state gifts and kept in detention pending trial. Both deny any wrongdoing.
“Bushra BiBi, the former first lady, has been released from prison,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said in a statement.
Following her release, Bibi traveled to her residence in Islamabad’s Bani Gala area in a motorcade from the jail, where she was greeted by the party’s charged supporters.
KHAN MEETS LAWYERS IN PRISON
Earlier on Thursday, the IHC directed Central Prison Rawalpindi’s administration to produce Khan in court by 3:00 p.m. to facilitate a meeting with his lawyers.
“Bring Imran Khan to Islamabad High Court at 3 p.m. to arrange his meeting with his lawyers,” Justice Ijaz Ishaq Khan remarked during a hearing. “I know you won’t implement my orders, but let me issue directions.”
The development followed Khan’s legal team moving the court, complaining that prison officials were preventing them and the ex-premier’s family from meeting him. Khan has been imprisoned for over a year, facing various charges, including corruption and sedition.
The prison authorities did not present Khan before the court by 3 p.m. but allowed the PTI founder to meet his lawyers at the Rawalpindi prison.
“Imran Khan is being kept in a six by eight cell [in the jail] and taken out of that cage for an hour and a half,” advocate Faisal Fareed told reporters after meeting Khan with PTI secretary-general Salman Akram Raja.
Fareed said he would file a petition in the high court regarding the dismal condition in which Khan was being kept in jail.
Currently, the former prime minister is incarcerated in the state repository case, involving the possession of a jewelry set comprising a ring, bracelet, necklace and earrings gifted to his wife by a foreign dignitary. The couple allegedly undervalued the set and retained it at a lower price.
The judge’s remark to produce Khan in court came amid an ongoing tussle between the executive and the judiciary, with the latter accusing the country’s powerful military and intelligence agencies of exerting pressure to secure favorable verdicts in political cases, particularly those involving Khan.
The military and intelligence agencies have denied these allegations, maintaining that they do not interfere in political matters.
Khan has not physically appeared in a court since August last year, with all hearings being held in the high-security Rawalpindi prison due to security concerns.
For the last two weeks, the Punjab government has banned all meetings with Khan and other prisoners in the jail, citing security reasons.
Khan’s legal team has struggled to secure his release, arguing that all charges against him are fabricated to keep him out of politics.
Former Pakistan PM Khan’s wife released on bail after nine months of incarceration
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Former Pakistan PM Khan’s wife released on bail after nine months of incarceration
- Bushra Bibi released from prison after securing bail in case related to sale of state gifts
- Rawalpindi prison authorities allow Imran Khan to meet lawyers in jail on court’s directions
Pakistan begins talks with Saudi delegation on local vaccine manufacturing
- Health ministry has warned vaccine import costs could rise from $400 million to $1.2 billion by 2031
- Local vaccine manufacturing would strengthen health security and help conserve foreign exchange
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday formally began discussions with a high-level Saudi delegation on establishing local vaccine manufacturing, as Islamabad seeks to reduce import dependence and prepare for the eventual end of international funding support for its national immunization program.
The talks come amid Pakistan’s broader push to strengthen health security and industrial capacity. The country of more than 240 million people currently imports all vaccines used in its national immunization campaigns, relying heavily on international partners to help cover costs.
Officials say local vaccine manufacturing would not only strengthen health security but also help conserve foreign exchange and support Pakistan’s longer-term economic stability as the country looks to cut costly imports and build export-oriented industrial capacity.
According to the Ministry of National Health Services, the eleven-member Saudi delegation is led by Nizar Al-Hariri, senior adviser to Saudi Arabia’s minister of industry, and is visiting Pakistan as part of efforts to deepen bilateral cooperation in health, pharmaceutical manufacturing and industrial collaboration.
“Practical progress is being made toward the local production of vaccines for 13 diseases in Pakistan,” the health ministry said in a statement, quoting Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal who met the delegation in Islamabad.
Pakistani officials presented detailed briefings on current vaccine demand, existing infrastructure and production capacity.
“Collaboration between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the health sector will set an example for the entire region,” the ministry said.
Kamal told the visiting delegation Pakistan is the world’s fifth most populous country, with around 6.2 million children born each year, adding that the country’s annual population growth is roughly equivalent to the population of New Zealand.
He said the government currently provides vaccines for 13 diseases free of cost but does not manufacture any of them domestically, forcing Pakistan to import vaccines at an annual cost of about $400 million.
According to the ministry, international partners currently cover 49 percent of those costs, with the remainder borne by the Pakistani government. However, Kamal warned that this external support is expected to end after 2031.
“If vaccines are not manufactured locally, the annual cost could rise to $1.2 billion by 2031, which would place a heavy burden on the national economy,” the ministry quoted him as saying.
Pakistan regularly conducts nationwide immunization campaigns against diseases including polio, measles, rubella and hepatitis. This week, it launched a seven-day polio vaccination drive aimed at inoculating more than 45 million children.
