On Sunday, January 19 Pakistan’s main opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced it will approach the higher judiciary to quash the “politically motivated” and “wrongful” conviction and sentencing of its leader and former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case last week.
Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were pronounced guilty by an “accountability court” in Pakistan on Friday, January 17 in the case related to alleged mishandling of funds causing millions of dollars of loss to the state exchequer. Khan was sentenced for 14 years in jail and fined Rs 1 million (around USD 3,600) while Bushra Bibi was sentenced for seven years in jail and fined Rs. 50,0000 (USD 1,800).
PTI called the verdict a “murder of justice”, claiming that the government is deliberately misinterpreting the facts. On Sunday, it organized countrywide protests against the “wrongful conviction” however, stating it is open for all kinds of political dialogue in the matter.
Khan and his wife were accused of getting billions of rupees and land in return of legalizing 190 million pound sterling or Rs 50 billion returned to the country by the UK government in 2018. The allegations against Khan, the prime minister at the time, and his wife are with regards to misusing their authority to transfer the money meant for the state exchequer to a private firm, Bahria Town, in exchange for money and land for the Al-Qadir Trust owned by the couple.
Al-Qadir trust runs Al-Qadir University and several other charitable establishments in Pakistan.
PTI claims the money returned by the UK was originally designated to go to the personal account of businessman Malik Riaz, owner of Bahria Town and not to the state as claimed by the government. It claims the government is deliberately fabricating the facts for political reasons.
Khan was arrested first in the case in May 2023 but later released after the Supreme Court called the arrest unlawful. His arrest for the case was ordered again while already in jail on other charges in November the same year.
The verdict in the case was reached on December 18 but its pronouncement was suspended several times until Friday. The court also ordered forfeiting of the Al-Qadir trust calling it “sham.”
Commenting on the verdict, Pakistan’s law minister Azam Nazeer Tarar claimed it was a sign of the government’s efforts to establish accountability in all criminal cases.
Political persecution
The PTI and other opposition parties question the claims of the government. Commenting on the verdict Ammar Ali Jan, leader of the Haqooq-e-Khalq party said on X that, “accountability in Pakistan is a technique of intimidation used by the establishment to control politicians. The latest victim of this charade is Imran Khan.”
While depositing in the case, Khan had called it a political ploy against him and his party by the establishment, which generally translates into a combination of political and military authority in Pakistan. Khan and PTI claim they enjoy the support of people and if free elections are held in the country they will come back to power.
Khan who became prime minister with the support of various parties in 2018, was removed from his prime minister’s post in 2022 following a no-confidence motion in the parliament. Khan has maintained that he was removed from power due to pressures from the US which did not like him pursuing an independent foreign policy.
Khan has been in jail since his arrest in August 2023. He was charged in over a hundred cases since his arrest and was also convicted in some of those cases such as cipher, Toshakhana and Iddat cases. In all those cases his convictions by the lower courts were either suspended or turned down by the higher judiciary.
Khan was not allowed to contest national elections in February 2023 and the electoral symbol of his party, PTI, was barred almost making it impossible to contest as a party. Its candidates were forced to contest the elections as independents. Despite the hurdles, PTI-backed independents won the greatest number of seats making it the largest block in the parliament.
Meanwhile, Khan has remained in high profile Adiala Jail with fresh charges brought against him by the newly elected coalition government headed by Shahbaz Sharif. PTI has also faced several attacks including the attempt to ban the party since the last elections.