Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former prime minister, has been arrested during a court appearance in the capital, Islamabad, to face corruption allegations. “Imran Khan has been arrested in the Qadir Trust case,” the Islamabad police said on its official Twitter account.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been arrested outside the High Court in the capital Islamabad. Mr Khan was appearing in court on charges of corruption, which he says are politically motivated. Footage showed paramilitary forces in armoured personnel carriers detaining Mr Khan after he entered the court compound, before driving him away. He was ousted as PM in April last year and has been campaigning for early elections since then.
According to Fawad Chaudhry, the official spokesperson of Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the ex-PM had been “abducted from Court premises. Scores of lawyers and general people have been tortured.”
Khan has been arrested in connection with the allegations that Bahria Town allotted land worth PKR 530 million to Al-Qadir Trust, owned by the PTI chairman and his wife, reports. “Khan has been whisked away by unknown people to an unknown location,” Chaudhry said. Adding that the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court has ordered Secretary Interior and the IG police to appear in the court within 15 minutes.
History of accusations
Khan has been facing a clutch of cases since his ouster through a no trust vote in April last year. At present, he is facing over 140 cases related to terrorism, blasphemy, murder, violence, inciting to violence. However, he has rejected all these cases as political victimization by the ruling alliance.
The development comes on the heels of the military’s rejection of accusations Imran made against DG-C Maj Gen Faisal Naseer. Imran had accused the officer of involvement in the assassination attempt against him in Wazirabad. Imran doubled down on the allegations in a video message today.
The former premier’s detention also follows several unsuccessful attempts. Including a police raid at his residence in Lahore’s Zaman Park, to arrest him which he had managed to evade.
According to the PTI chief, more than a hundred cases — ranging from sedition to corruption — have been registered against him.
