Imran Khan was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison on Saturday after a court convicted him in a corruption case that he claims is politically motivated.
Police swooped on the former Pakistani prime minister and international cricket star’s home in Lahore, minutes after a court in the capital Islamabad convicted him of illegally selling official gifts, including luxury watches and jewellery, while he was in office.
Anyone convicted of a criminal offence is usually disqualified from contesting elections or holding office in Pakistan, scuppering Khan’s hopes of participating in the next election, which has to be held before early November.
“His dishonesty has been established beyond doubt,” judge Humayun Dilawar wrote in a court ruling seen by The Telegraph.
“He has been found guilty of corrupt practices by hiding the benefits he accrued from [the] national exchequer wilfully and intentionally.”
After his arrest, Khan, 70, who was prime minister from 2018 to 2022, was flown by helicopter to Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail, and was expected to be imprisoned in the central jail in Adyala, Rawalpindi, a court order said.
Marriyum Aurangzeb, the information minister, said that Khan’s arrest followed a full investigation and proper legal proceedings in a trial court. She said his arrest was unrelated to the upcoming elections.
“A thief has been arrested today,” she told reporters on Saturday. “Any negotiations with the thief will be difficult now because he will be in jail.”
Khan was previously arrested in connection with a separate corruption case in May, sparking widespread protests and violent clashes between his supporters and Pakistan’s security forces.
In a pre-recorded message, released in the aftermath of his arrest, Khan urged his supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
“My fellow Pakistanis, they will have arrested me and I’ll be in jail by the time this message reaches you. I have just one request and appeal, that you are not to sit silently at home,” he said.
“This is a war for justice, for your rights, for your freedom … chains don’t just fall off, they have to be broken. You must continue peaceful protest until you get your rights.”
Chairman Imran Khan’s message:
My arrest was expected & I recorded this message before my arrest.
It is one more step in fulfilling London Plan but I want my party workers to remain peaceful, steadfast and strong.
We bow before no one but Allah who is Al Haq. We believe in… pic.twitter.com/1kqg6HQVac
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 5, 2023
‘We have to struggle for his freedom’
Thousands of Khan’s aides and supporters were arrested after his conviction, according to the interior minister.
Many pro-Khan parliamentarians were also arrested and distanced themselves from the former prime minister, with some resigning from politics outright.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Khan’s deputy and former foreign minister who Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced would lead the party in his absence, said their leader had been denied a fair trial.
“We have to struggle for his freedom – we have to fight legally and politically and move in a peaceful way in line with Imran Khan’s directives,” he said in a video message.
The party’s top decision-making body met on Saturday and called for nationwide peaceful protests.
A party spokesman said that Khan’s lawyers were appealing to the Lahore High Court against the “unlawful arrest, rather, abduction”.
Khan was forced out of power in April last year in a vote of no confidence, but his popularity has since soared.
The former prime minister has denied any wrongdoing in the long-running corruption case.
Shehbaz Sharif, his successor as prime minister, has proposed that parliament be dissolved on Aug 9, three days before the end of its term, according to political sources, paving the way for a general election by November.
However, on Saturday Pakistan’s law minister said it would take four months to complete the process of a census and new constituency boundaries.
While the initial reaction among Khan’s supporters was largely muted, experts believe his conviction could lead to unrest, particularly when combined with the possibility of a delay to the elections.
“Khan himself has called for peaceful protests, but this arrest, which comes amid indications the elections could be delayed, will stir [his] large and angry base in a big way,” said Michael Kugelman, the South Asia Institute director at the Wilson Centre think tank.
“A big question now is what is done by the leadership of what remains of PTI’s top cadre. What will its message be to Khan’s support base? If we see violent protests and unrest, the political crisis, which had eased a bit, could explosively return to front and centre.”
Since he was ousted, pitching the country into a lingering political crisis, Khan has frequently drawn attention to the political power wielded by Pakistan’s military – a taboo subject in the country.
Once criticised for being under the thumb of Pakistan’s powerful generals, Khan’s fall from power came after he reportedly fell out with then army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
After he was shot in the leg while marching on the capital to call for early elections last year, he claimed his political rivals in government were conspiring with the army to have him killed or jailed.
The government denies his claims and says they are intended to energise his devoted supporters.
Source: The Telegraph
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