Imran Khan | Imran Khan sent to eight-day police custody in Al-Qadir Trust case
Islamabad. An anti-corruption court in Pakistan on Wednesday sent former prime minister Imran Khan to the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) remand for eight days, while a sessions court here charged him in a separate corruption case. On Tuesday, on the orders of the bureau, the paramilitary force barged into a chamber of the Islamabad High Court and arrested the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Amidst tight police security, Khan (70) was produced before the same judge in Accountability Court No. 1 here on Wednesday, who convicted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam in a corruption case related to their London properties. Had given. Maryam was later acquitted in the case by the Islamabad High Court, while Sharif’s case is still pending. At the start of the hearing, the bureau’s lawyers requested the court to grant them 14 days’ remand to investigate the allegations against them in the case involving the Al-Qadir Trust. He is accused of looting 50 billion Pakistani rupees from the government treasury. Khan’s counsel, however, opposed the plea and sought his release terming the charges as fabricated. Since Khan’s arrest in the case, his supporters have been holding countrywide protests. The court had initially reserved judgment after hearing arguments from both sides. Later, while announcing the verdict, the accountability court remanded Khan to the Bureau’s remand for eight days. In his statement, Khan told the court that there was a threat to his life, The Express Tribune reported. “During the last 24 hours, I have not been able to go to the toilet,” he said. The former prime minister requested the court to allow his doctor Faisal Sultan to meet him. Khan said, “I am afraid that I too will meet the same fate as Maqsood Chaprasi.” He said this while referring to a witness in the money laundering case of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Maqsood had died of a heart attack last year. Khan’s party had described the death of the witness as ‘mysterious’. Khan was also produced before the District and Sessions Court, where Judge Humayun Dilawar charged him in the Toshakhana corruption case. Khan is facing allegations of buying gifts, including an expensive watch, from Toshakhana during his tenure as prime minister and selling them for profit. Toshakhana was established in 1974. This department comes under the administrative control of Cabinet Division. Expensive gifts received by rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats and officials from foreign dignitaries and heads of government of other countries are kept in the Toshakhana. The case was filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan last year and Khan had missed several hearings in the past months. Meanwhile, Khan’s party on Wednesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Islamabad High Court’s Tuesday order upholding his arrest. Read this also According to the news of Dawn newspaper, “Advocate Ali Zafar and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party leader Fawad Chaudhary have filed an application in a Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Islamabad High Court against Imran Khan.” The High Court on Tuesday night, while upholding Khan’s arrest, had said that all legal formalities were completed by the bureau for his arrest. The New Police Guest House in the Police Line Headquarters complex, located in Sector H-11/1 area of Islamabad, was declared a special court complex for the purpose of hearing two cases against Imran. Quoting sources, Geo News reported that a medical report submitted to the bureau shows that Khan has been declared fit and has not complained of any health-related complaints to the doctors who examined him. No leader, activist or supporter of Imran’s party was allowed to enter the venue of the hearing and they were not allowed to meet the former prime minister. Those who were not allowed to enter included the party’s vice-president Shah Mehmood Qureshi and general secretary Asad Umar. Thereafter, they both went to the Islamabad High Court to file a petition against this decision of the police. However, before any legal process could begin, Umar was arrested by the Anti-Terrorism Squad of the Islamabad Police, as two new cases were registered against him by the police over the violence in the party’s protests against Khan’s arrest. Are. In a video message, Qureshi appealed to party supporters and workers to hold peaceful protests across the country. Meanwhile, the federal government has decided to deploy the Army in Punjab to maintain law and order. Violent demonstrations were witnessed in several cities of the province on Tuesday. The Pakistan Telecom Authority has said that internet service will remain suspended across the country. In Peshawar, attacks on public establishments continued for the second day. Roads leading to Peshawar Cantonment and Corps Headquarters have been sealed. (agency)