Former PM barred from standing in Pakistan’s next election as judge says his \u2018dishonesty has been established\u2019<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Police swooped on the former Pakistani prime minister and international cricket star\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Anyone convicted of a criminal offence is usually disqualified from contesting elections or holding office in Pakistan, scuppering Khan\u2019s hopes of participating in the next election, which has to be held before early November.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis dishonesty has been established beyond doubt,\u201d judge Humayun Dilawar wrote in a court ruling.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been found guilty of corrupt practices by hiding the benefits he accrued from [the] national exchequer wilfully and intentionally.\u201d<\/p>\n
After his arrest, Khan, 70, who was prime minister from 2018 to 2022, was flown by helicopter to Lahore\u2019s Kot Lakhpat jail, and was expected to be imprisoned in the central jail in Adyala, Rawalpindi, a court order said.<\/p>\n
A supporter of Imran Khan is arrested at a protest in Lahore yesterday CREDIT: Arif ALI\/AFP
\nMarriyum Aurangzeb, the information minister, said that Khan\u2019s arrest followed a full investigation and proper legal proceedings in a trial court. She said his arrest was unrelated to the upcoming elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cA thief has been arrested today,\u201d she told reporters on Saturday. \u201cAny negotiations with the thief will be difficult now because he will be in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan was previously arrested in connection with a separate corruption case in May, sparking widespread protests and violent clashes between his supporters and Pakistan\u2019s security forces.<\/p>\n
In a pre-recorded message, released in the aftermath of his arrest, Khan urged his supporters to demonstrate peacefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy fellow Pakistanis, they will have arrested me and I\u2019ll 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a war for justice, for your rights, for your freedom \u2026 chains don\u2019t just fall off, they have to be broken. You must continue peaceful protest until you get your rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chairman Imran Khan\u2019s message:<\/p>\n
My arrest was expected & I recorded this message before my arrest.<\/p>\n
It is one more step in fulfilling London Plan but I want my party workers to remain peaceful, steadfast and strong.<\/p>\n
We bow before no one but Allah who is Al Haq.<\/p>\n
\u2018We have to struggle for his freedom\u2019<\/p>\n
Thousands of Khan\u2019s aides and supporters were arrested after his conviction, according to the interior minister.<\/p>\n
Many pro-Khan parliamentarians were also arrested and distanced themselves from the former prime minister, with some resigning from politics outright.<\/p>\n
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Khan\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to struggle for his freedom \u2013 we have to fight legally and politically and move in a peaceful way in line with Imran Khan\u2019s directives,\u201d he said in a video message.<\/p>\n
The party\u2019s top decision-making body met on Saturday and called for nationwide peaceful protests.<\/p>\n
A party spokesman said that Khan\u2019s lawyers were appealing to the Lahore High Court against the \u201cunlawful arrest, rather, abduction\u201d.<\/p>\n
Khan was forced out of power in April last year in a vote of no confidence, but his popularity has since soared.<\/p>\n
The former prime minister has denied any wrongdoing in the long-running corruption case.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
However, on Saturday Pakistan\u2019s law minister said it would take four months to complete the process of a census and new constituency boundaries.<\/p>\n
While the initial reaction among Khan\u2019s supporters was largely muted, experts believe his conviction could lead to unrest, particularly when combined with the possibility of a delay to the elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cKhan 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,\u201d said Michael Kugelman, the South Asia Institute director at the Wilson Centre think tank.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big question now is what is done by the leadership of what remains of PTI\u2019s top cadre. What will its message be to Khan\u2019s support base? If we see violent protests and unrest, the political crisis, which had eased a bit, could explosively return to front and centre.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since he was ousted, pitching the country into a lingering political crisis, Khan has frequently drawn attention to the political power wielded by Pakistan\u2019s military \u2013 a taboo subject in the country.<\/p>\n
Once criticised for being under the thumb of Pakistan\u2019s powerful generals, Khan\u2019s fall from power came after he reportedly fell out with then army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The government denies his claims and says they are intended to energise his devoted supporters.<\/p>\n
Source: The Telegraph<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former PM barred from standing in Pakistan’s next election as judge says his \u2018dishonesty has been established\u2019 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3123,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121\/revisions\/3123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoplesforumonline.com.ng\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}