ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad sent former prime minister Imran Khan on eight-day physical remand in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigation even as he told the judge he feared a Maqsood chaprasi-style death.
Whereas a District and Session Court indicted Imran Khan in a separate reference involving the sale of state gifts known as Toshakhana case.
Malik Maqsood Ahmad, known as Maqsood chaprasi, was a key figure in the billion-rupee money laundering case against Shehbaz Sharif and his family, who died under mysterious circumstances weeks after Sharif’s assumption of office last year.
Critics have alleged that Sharif and his sons laundered billions of rupees through Ahmad’s bank account. Members of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party have repeatedly claimed Ahmad, a clerk in Sharif’s family business, was poisoned to save the prime minister.
A day after the top anti-graft watchdog apprehended Imran Khan with legal support of paramilitary Rangers officials from Islamabad High Court’s biometric branch, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials produced Imran Khan before Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir. The officials filed an application for 14-days physical custody of Imran Khan. However, the court granted 8-days physical remand of Imran Khan for investigation in the matter.
In the reference, Imran Khan and his wife are accused of receiving a total of 458 kanals of land as a reward of deal on government level during Khan’s regime through the Al-Qadir charitable trust, which runs a university adjacent to GT Road at Mouza Bakrala, Sohawa in district Jhelum, devoted to spirituality and Islamic teachings.
During the hearing, as Khan appeared in the court at the headquarters of Islamabad police to answer “graft charges”, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) sought two-week maximum detention of the former prime minister.
However, his lawyer, Khawaja Haris Ahmad, opposed the request and argued that the case did not fall under the jurisdiction of the agency.
He also pointed out that NAB, which is headed by a former general considered close to the government, had not shared the inquiry report with the former prime minister.
Ahmad further emphasised the need for a fair trial and called for an open court hearing. He explained that a building had been constructed on the land belonging to Al-Qadir Trust, where people receive free education.
He also said that a legal person, who is not a public office holder, should be in charge of the trust, and Khan is no longer a public office holder.
The prosecutor for NAB countered his arguments, saying that the arrest warrant was shown to Khan at the time of his arrest. He assured Ahmad that the necessary documentation would be provided.
The prosecutor also claimed that this was a corruption case that the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the United Kingdom had investigated. He alleged the money received was meant to be transferred to the government but was instead transferred to Bahria Town (Pvt.) Ltd.
In response, Khan contradicted NAB’s version and told the court that he was shown the arrest warrant when he was taken to the bureau’s office, not at the time of his arrest.
He also expressed concern about his well-being, saying he had not gone to the washroom in 24 hours and requested his physician, Dr. Faisal Sultan, to be called in. He also referred to the case of Maqsood chaprasi, alleging that he was injected and died slowly.
Last night, the government designated the New Police Guest House, Police Lines in Islamabad as a “special court” due to security concerns, to “facilitate” Khan’s appearance in cases against him.
Originally, the hearings were to take place at the F-8 court complex and the Judicial Complex in G-11. However, citing unspecified security concerns, the government granted a “one-time status” of a special court to the Police Lines for the proceedings.
“[The] Provincial Government, as a one-time dispensation, is pleased to declare New Police Guest House, Police Lines Headquarters H 11/1, Islamabad, the venue for hearing of case titled ‘District Election Commissioner Vs Imran Khan Niazi’ and for the appearance of Mr. Imran Khan Niazi before Honorable Judge Accountability Court-I, Islamabad on 10th May 2023, instead of F-8 Court Complex, Islamabad and Judicial Complex G 11/4, Islamabad,” read a notification issued by the government.
Toshakhana case hearing
Separately, Imran Khan was indicted on Wednesday in the Toshakhana case even though the PTI chief and his legal team boycotted the proceedings. Additional District and Sessions Judge Islamabad Humayun Dilawar has decided last week to frame charges against Imran Khan in Toshakhana case on May 10 in District Court F-8 Markaz. But a hearing for the Toshakhana case was also held at the New Police Line Guest House after the hearing for the Al-Qadir Trust case on Wednesday.
Speaking to the media after the hearing of the case, one of the counsels for Imran Khan Advocate Sher Afzal Marwat informed the former prime minister and lawyers boycotted the indictment proceedings. He maintained that the court indicted the PTI chief despite his lack of confidence in the judge, hearing the case.
Khan’s detention follows months of political crisis and came hours after the powerful military rebuked the former international cricketer for alleging that a senior officer had been involved in a plot to kill him.
Some protesters took out their wrath on the military, torching the residence of the corps commander in Lahore and laying siege at the entrance to the General Headquarters (GHQ) in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Tempers appeared to have cooled on Wednesday morning but there was a huge security presence across the capital, particularly outside the so-called police lines where the special court will convene.
Authorities also ordered schools closed across the country and continued restricting access to social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
“At a time we are already struggling to feed our children, further uncertainty has been created,” Farooq Bhatti, a van driver, told AFP in Rawalpindi Wednesday morning.
“The violence will not serve anyone… everyone will be affected… but I doubt the decision makers care.”
Shah Mehmood Qureshi, deputy chairman of the PTI, urged supporters to keep protesting in a “lawful and peaceful manner”, adding party lawyers would file multiple appeals and petitions against Khan’s arrest.
Khan’s lawyers were told on Wednesday to wait outside the police HQ compound from where they would be escorted to the makeshift court.
“No PTI senior leader or lawyer knows about Khan’s conditions. We are denied access to him,” lawyer Faisal Hussain Chaudhry told AFP. “Will there be any justice under the shadow of guns?”
The case that led to Khan’s arrest on Tuesday was brought by NAB which claimed he had ignored repeated summons to appear in court.
Khan has faced dozens of charges since being ousted in April, a tactic analysts say successive governments have used to silence their opponents.
He could be barred from holding public office if convicted, which would exclude him from elections scheduled for later this year.
Khan’s arrest came a day after the military warned him against making “baseless allegations” after he again accused a senior officer of plotting to kill him.
Reaction from abroad was swift.
The US wants to “make sure that whatever happens in Pakistan is consistent with the rule of law, with the constitution,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday during a news conference with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in Washington.
“We want to see peaceful democracy in that country,” Cleverly added.
Pakistan is deeply mired in an economic and political crisis, with Khan pressuring the struggling coalition government for early elections.
Khan has been increasingly outspoken against the establishment, relying on near-fanatical support from the huge crowds that accompany his public appearances to protect him from arrest.
But authorities pounced during what was supposed to be a routine court appearance Tuesday.
Khan, who has had a pronounced limp since being shot during an assassination attempt last year, was manhandled by dozens of paramilitary rangers into an armoured car inside the Islamabad High Court premises.
At a weekend rally in Lahore, Khan repeated claims that senior intelligence officer Maj. Gen. Faisal Naseer was involved in an assassination attempt last year during which he was shot in the leg.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement that “this fabricated and malicious allegation is extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable”.
— With input from AFP
