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PTI chief shifted to Attock instead of Adiala Jail,
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Bushra BiBi resisted, Imran Khan threatened police before arrest,
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PTI Vice Chairman asks party workers to remain peaceful,
ISLAMABAD/Lahore(Mudassar Chuhdary)_ Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested on Saturday in Lahore, his party said, moments after an Islamabad district and sessions court sentenced him to three years in prison in a case involving the sale of state gifts.
When police reached Khan’s residence, his wife Bushra BiBi put up a resistance and later PTI chief Khan also threatened police officers with consequences. However, the police arrested the former premier and did not let him even change his clothes.
He was sleeping at the time the police reached his residence and was in a tracksuit and the police arrested him in the same attire and took him towards the airport where a special plane was to arrive from Islamabad for the transfer of Khan to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
However, later the plan changed as the bad weather forced the police to transport him to Adiala jail by road.
A few PTI workers gathered at the residence of Imran Khan and chanted slogans. However, the police remained unperturbed and did not stop them from the protest and left the area with Khan immediately after his arrest.
In October last year, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) found Khan guilty of not declaring proceeds from the sale of state gifts he received as the prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The case has popularly come to be called the Toshakhana case. After its verdict, the ECP sought criminal proceedings against the former premier from the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
On Friday, the IHC temporarily halted the trial and asked a lower court to look into whether a legal complaint filed by the country’s election commission, as part of an inquiry against Khan, constituted criminal proceedings.
“Chairman PTI Imran Khan has been arrested from his residence in Lahore,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said in a statement to media, adding the former premier was being moved to the Kot Lakhpat prison in the city.
The former cricket star, 70, was accused of misusing his premiership to buy and sell gifts in state possession that were received during visits abroad and worth more than 140 million Pakistani rupees ($635,000).
Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar ruled on Saturday that charges against the former prime minister were proven. The court sentenced Khan to three years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on him for concealing details of the Toshakhana gifts.
Khan and his lawyers were not present in the courtroom when the judge announced the verdict. The judge directed his staff that a copy of the court order be sent to the Islamabad police chief for the execution of the court orders.
“There was no chance given to present witnesses, neither was time allotted to round up arguments meant to finish by the end of the day, today,” Khan’s party said earlier about his conviction, adding the decision was “tinted by political posturing” and “conspicuously reached at haste to keep Chairman out of electoral race.”
The party said an appeal in the Supreme Court had already been filed.
“We will be challenging the verdict in the superior judiciary as we feel that justice has not been done in this case,” PTI vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi told, raising questions over the “hasty trial and proceedings” in the case.
“Our applications and appeals have already been pending in the Islamabad High Court for adjudication in the Toshakhana case, but the district court judge has given a judgment.”
Qureshi said the party would convene a meeting of its core committee to mull a strategy following the arrest of Khan.
Attaullah Tarar, PM Shehbaz Sharif’s aide on legal affairs, said the court had found Khan guilty of misdeclaration of his assets in the statement of his wealth.
“You know elected representatives have to declare their assets with the Election Commission of Pakistan,” Tarar said in televised comments.
“Anything you do not declare counts as misdeclaration and that accounts for three-year imprisonment.”
PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that a meeting of the core committee of the party has been summoned in which the future action plan will be decided,
In a special audio message released shortly after the PTI chief was handed a three-year prison term in the Toshakhana case on Saturday, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood urged supporters to remain peaceful and not take the law into their hands.
He rejected the verdict issued by a district and sessions court in Islamabad, wherein Judge Humayun Dilawar declared the former premier as established dishonest.
He quoted the Constitution’s Article 10(1) which stipulates: Every citizen will be given justice. “70-year-old Imran Khan was not offered a fair trial.”
Qureshi also asked party supporters to continue efforts for the PTI chief’s release peacefully while assuring them that the action plan moving forward is being prepared.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that senior leaders of the party have been consulted.
“We will proceed in the light of the decisions of the core committee and consultation with the lawyers,” he clarified.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that anxiety, anger, and reaction in people against the arrest of their beloved leader is quite natural.
He said that the people view the court decision of Imran Khan against the demands of justice.
“PTI political activists, workers, and people want to record their protest as the Constitution of Pakistan gives them the full right to do so,” Shah Mehmood remarked.
“Peaceful protest is our right but no state asset is to be damaged. Don’t take the law in your hands,” he cautioned.
Shah vowed that the struggle for real freedom has to be carried forward.
Former foreign minister Qureshi said that he is aware of the anxiety prevailing in the nation after the arrest of Imran Khan.
He urged the workers to remain peaceful, steadfast, and strong.
“We all have to continue the freedom struggle initiated by PTI Chairman,” he remarked, adding that We have to fight the legal battle and continue the political struggle at all costs.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi added that they have to move forward in the light of clear instructions and guidelines of Imran.
While,
In a major development, the former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief who was arrested earlier Saturday was shifted to Attock Jail following the conclusion of the Toshakhana case.
The police, after detaining the former Prime Minister from his Lahore’s residence in Zaman Park, brought him to Islamabad via the motorway.
The transfer to Attock Jail was accompanied by a heavy contingent of Punjab police and Islamabad police. Additional forces were also deployed outside the jail.
Specially Prepared Lock-up for PTI chief
Sources say that a specially prepared lock-up has been arranged in Attock Jail for the PTI chairman. The lock-up is furnished with a window, a chair, a water cooler, and a mattress. However, there will be no TV or internet facility in that area. A separate washroom has been allocated for the former Prime Minister as per the jail manual.
The jail administration received the court warrant for his custody, but the warrant does not contain any instructions regarding providing specific facilities.
