Islamabad:

Pakistan’s jailed former premier Imran Khan has claimed that he is being caged like a “terrorist”, and was denied basic prisoner and human rights in a “death cell” at a high-security jail.

The 71-year-old Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf party founder made these claims in a rare interview from behind bars with British publication ‘The Sunday Times’, the Dawn newspaper reported on Sunday.

“I am confined in a 7ft by 8ft death cell, typically reserved for terrorists to ensure they have no contact with anyone,” he told the newspaper.

“It is solitary confinement with barely any space to move. I am under constant surveillance by the agencies, being recorded 24/7, and I am denied basic prisoner and human rights such as visitation,” he said.

The interview was conducted via his lawyers, as – according to the article – he is not allowed a pencil and paper.

Khan has been imprisoned at the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for almost a year upon his conviction in three cases – the Toshakhana corruption case, the cipher case, and the un-Islamic marriage case — in which his wife, Bushra Bibi, is also jailed.

He faces over 200 cases and has been convicted in a few of them.

Though the former-cricketer-turned-politician had secured bail or his conviction was set aside, he has not been released.

Khan was arrested on August 5 last year after his conviction in the first Toshakhana corruption case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Since then, he has been kept in jail in various cases.

After setting aside Khan’s conviction in the Iddat (un-Islamic marriage) case earlier this month, the court ruled that he should be released from jail if he is not wanted in another case.

But within hours, he was arrested in another Toshakhana case along with his 49-year-old wife Bushra, and both are still in jail.

He frequently alleges about not being treated well in jail, but authorities so far have been rejecting his claims and allegations.

Responding to reports about Khan’s imprisonment conditions, Information Minister Atta Tarar denied he was being held in a death row cell.

“The Sharif family endured harsh conditions, but Imran Khan enjoys presidential suites at Adiala Jail, with access to a gym, kitchen, walking gallery, and luxurious meals,” he said at a press conference.

On Saturday, Khan’s wife, Bushra also expressed grave concerns about her husband’s safety in the Adiala Jail, alleging that he was kept in inhumane conditions and given contaminated food.

According to Bushra, Khan’s life is in danger, keeping in view the past incidents where he was allegedly poisoned and shot at. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will be banned for its alleged involvement in anti-state activities, the government said Monday.

“The government has decided that the federal government will move a case to ban the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf),” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told reporters in Islamabad. The case would be taken to the Supreme Court, he added.

There is clear evidence to impose restrictions on the PTI and the government would initiate proceedings against the party, said Mr Tarar.

Mr Khan, 71, had formed PTI in 1996, which came to power in 2018. Mr Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was ousted after falling out with the military establishment, which wields huge influence over civilian politics.

Mr Khan was banned from running in the February election due to a graft conviction.

Despite the setbacks, candidates loyal to PTI secured more seats than any other party, but were kept from power by the alliance pact.

A spokesperson for the PTI told news agency AFP that the party “will not tolerate” the government’s effort to ban it.

“PTI has become stronger than before. We will face it,” Raoof Hasan said.

In a landmark ruling on Friday, the Supreme Court granted the PTI more parliamentary seats, after party members were forced to run as independents in the February 8 election.

Mr Khan’s conviction for illegal marriage — which carried a seven-year sentence — was then overturned by an Islamabad court on Saturday but he remains jailed over other cases.

A UN panel of experts found this month that Mr Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office”.

(With agency inputs)

Islamabad:

A Pakistan court overturned ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan’s conviction on illegal marriage charges on Saturday, though he remains jailed over allegations of inciting riots.

Khan was slapped with a trio of convictions in the days before the February elections — cases he says were orchestrated to prevent his return to power.

Those cases have now all been at least partially rolled back on appeal, with a treason conviction carrying a decade jail term overturned in April, and a 14-year graft sentence suspended in June, though the conviction still stands.

Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi had also been sentenced to seven years for allegedly marrying too soon after her divorce in a breach of Islamic law.

But Islamabad Additional District and Sessions Court judge Afzal Majoka announced in court that the “appeals of both Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi are accepted”.

A spokesman for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said the charges had been “dismissed”.

Khan remains locked up, though, after a court this week cancelled his bail over accusations he incited riots by his supporters in May 2023.

Courting Controversy

Earlier this month a UN panel of experts found Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office”.

“Thus, from the outset, that prosecution was not grounded in law and was reportedly instrumentalised for a political purpose,” it said, calling for his immediate release after nearly a year in jail.

Candidates loyal to Khan won the most seats in the national election but were kept from government by an alliance of military-backed rival parties.

Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was ousted by a no-confidence vote after falling out with the military establishment, which wields huge influence over civilian politics.

In opposition he waged a campaign of defiance against the top generals, who directly ruled Pakistan for decades of its history, even accusing them of an assassination attempt that wounded him.

But the former cricket star’s comeback campaign was hobbled by scores of legal cases, which analysts say were likely brought at the behest of the military establishment.

Khan was first briefly arrested in May 2023, sparking nationwide unrest from PTI supporters, some of which targeted military facilities.

The government and military cited the attacks as justification for a sweeping crackdown on PTI, which saw its senior leadership decimated by arrests and defections.

An anti-terrorism court in the eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday refused to bail him as police investigate his alleged role in the unrest, despite the fact he was behind bars at the time.

Surviving The Crackdown

PTI candidates were forced to stand as independents in the February 8 elections, which had been repeatedly delayed amid political chaos.

Khan’s arrest and conviction for graft back in August 2023 meant he was barred from standing for office himself, confined to a cell in Adiala Jail south of the capital Islamabad.

Despite that, candidates loyal to PTI secured more seats than any other party.

Nonetheless they were blocked from power by a broad coalition of parties considered more pliable to the influence of the military.

Polling day itself was marred by allegations of vote-tampering amid a nationwide mobile internet blackout Islamabad said it orchestrated over security concerns.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Supporters of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf distribute sweets to passersby to celebrates the Supreme Court decision in a case of reserved seats for women and minorities in the parliament, in Lahore, on July 12, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will emerge as the largest party in Parliament with 109 seats after the Supreme Court on July 12 ruled that it is eligible for the allocation of reserved seats for women and minorities, according to a media report.

In a major legal victory for 71-year-old Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, a 13-member full bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa annulled the Peshawar High Court’s decision upholding the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) move to deny its share in reserved seats in the National Assembly and provincial assemblies.

The bench also declared the decision of the top electoral body “null and void”, terming it “against the Constitution of Pakistan”.

The PTI will emerge as the largest party in the National Assembly as its seats will likely soar from 86 to 109 after it gains 23 reserved seats, Geo News reported.

The Opposition alliance in the National Assembly will also surge to a strength of 120, the report said.

Currently, the combined opposition, including the PTI, has 97 members.

Khan’s party has 86 members in the lower house, 84 of whom are on board with the Suni Ittehad Council (SIC) and two independents — party leaders Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Omar Ayub Khan.

With the majority seats of the PTI in the lower house of the legislature, the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will continue to occupy the simple majority with the strength of 209 members. The PML-N has a total of 108 members.

Major setback for the ruling coalition

The apex court’s ruling in the keenly awaited judgment is viewed as a major setback to Prime Minister Sharif’s ruling coalition, increasing pressure on it by changing the composition of the National Assembly and paving the way for the PTI’s return to Parliament.

“[The] withdrawal of election symbol cannot disqualify a political party from elections,” the court declared, referring to the election commission not allowing the PTI to use the cricket bat as its election symbol. “The PTI was and is a political party,” the bench ruled.

Khan, a cricketer-turned-politician, founded the PTI in 1996.

The dispute about the reserved seats was related to the rejection of a SIC plea by the ECP to award its share in the 70 reserved seats in the National Assembly and another 156 in the four provincial assemblies.

The PTI party could not contest the February 8 elections as the ECP rejected its intra-party elections and deprived it of its iconic ‘bat’ symbol for contesting the elections as a party.

Hence, it was not eligible to claim the seats reserved for women and minorities awarded to the winning parties based on proportional representation.

So its candidates, who had won independently but with the support of PTI, were asked by the party’s leadership to join the SIC to form a parliamentary party to claim reserved seats.

The joining of PTI lawmakers made the SIC prominent, which, otherwise, was a dormant entity.

The final ruling by the top court in the case may not change the current power structure, but changes in the overall number game in the assemblies may impact the law-making in the country.

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
| Photo Credit: AP

Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on July 6 postponed its rally in the suburbs of Islamabad after revocation of its permission by the authorities, citing security concerns.

The party was set to organise its power show at Tarnol at 6 p.m. for which it had secured a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Islamabad deputy commissioner.

However, the city administration on July 5 cancelled the permission saying that the NOC issued by the deputy commissioner was reviewed afresh in the wake of security concerns.

An official press release said the chief commissioner decided to cancel the certificate issued for the political gathering in view of the current security situation, the advent of Muharram, security concerns and reports of law enforcement agencies.

Initially, the PTI leadership had threatened to go ahead with the rally despite the cancellation of permission. PTI leader Omar Ayub Khan told reporters late last night that his party would go ahead with the planned meeting “come what may”.

However, there was a change of stance and today Omar accompanied by PTI chief Gohar Khan said at a press conference that the planned rally had been postponed until after the Muharram.

“God willing […] we will hold it after Ashura through a legal process,” Omar said, adding that the PTI would not sit after one rally but it would hold several other rallies in Lahore, Karachi and other cities.

Gohar Khan claimed that several PTI workers had been picked up in recent days, vowing to take the matter before the court. “We strongly condemn this state brutality,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the party filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking contempt proceedings against the Islamabad district administration and police for cancelling the NOC.

It stated that the party had approached the IHC for permission for the rally and during the hearing of its petition, the court was told by the administration that permission had been granted for the rally.

Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari
| Photo Credit: PTI

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on June 30 gave his assent to the government’s tax-heavy Finance Bill 2024, which drew sharp criticism from the Opposition which labelled it as an IMF-driven document that was harmful to the public for the new fiscal year, according to a media report.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented the Budget in the National Assembly on June 12, drawing sharp criticism from the opposition parties, especially jailed former premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), as well as coalition ally Pakistan Peoples Party led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

On June 28, Parliament passed the Pakistani Rs 18,877 billion Budget for the fiscal year 2024-25, detailing the expenditures and income of the government.

The Opposition parties, mainly parliamentarians backed by currently incarcerated former premier Khan, had rejected the Budget, saying it would be highly inflationary.

During the National Assembly session, opposition lawmakers criticised the Budget, asserting that it was now an open secret that the document was dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Leader of the Opposition Omar Ayub Khan had denounced the budget as “economic terrorism against the people”.

Earlier this week, the PPP — which had initially boycotted the debate over the Budget — decided that it would vote for the finance bill despite certain reservations.

On Friday, the National Assembly passed the budget with some amendments. The motion was preceded by fiery speeches from the opposition, who described the budget as unrealistic, anti-people, anti-industry, and anti-agriculture, the Dawn newspaper reported.

President Zardari on Sunday gave assent to the bill in accordance with Article 75 of the Constitution, the media wing of the President House said, adding that the bill would be applicable from July 1. Under Article 75 (1), the president has no power to reject or object to the finance bill, which is considered to be a money bill as per the Constitution.

On June 28, the Government extended exemptions in specific sectors while announcing new tax measures in several areas to generate additional revenue in the coming fiscal year to meet the International Monetary Fund’s criteria.

Pakistan is in talks with the IMF for a loan of $6 billion to USD 8 billion, the report said. Earlier this week, PM Shehbaz confirmed that the budget was prepared in collaboration with the IMF.

Amendments include introducing a capital value tax on property in Islamabad, implementing new tax measures on builders and developers and increasing the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) on diesel and petrol by Pakistani Rs 10 instead of the proposed Pakistani Rs 20.

According to the budget documents, the gross revenue receipts have been estimated at Pakistani Rs 17,815 billion, including Pakistani Rs 12,970 billion in tax revenues and Pakistani Rs 4,845 billion in non-tax revenue.

The share of provinces in the federal receipts will be Pakistani Rs 7,438 billion. The growth target had been set at 3.6% during the next fiscal year. Inflation is expected to be 12%, budget deficit 5.9% of GDP and primary surplus will be one per cent of the GDP.

Islamabad:

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday extended an olive branch to his predecessor and political rival Imran Khan, offering to hold talks with him if was facing “troubles” in jail.

Mr Khan, the founder of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, has been in jail since August last year after being convicted in some of the nearly 200 cases slapped on the 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician since his ouster from power in April 2022.

“If their [PTI] founder is facing troubles [in jail], then I reiterate: come, let’s sit down and talk,” Mr Sharif said while addressing the National Assembly.

“Let us sit together to take the country ahead. Let us talk for the betterment of the country. There is no other way forward,” he said.

The Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf have been at loggerheads for years, particularly after the February 8 elections, which Mr Khan’s party claims it had won.

Commenting on the 2018 elections won by Mr Khan’s PTI, Mr Sharif said: “We joined Parliament despite the [rigged] polls. The sort of slogans that were raised during my first speech will always be remembered as a dark chapter in the history books.”

“If someone is facing any injustice, then I believe that the scales of justice should be in favour of those [being victimised], there is no difference over it — whether it be any politician or anyone from any walk of life,” Geo News quoted Sharif as saying.

Mr Sharif lamented that he had once again, while he was in the opposition, proposed to Mr Khan to sit for a dialogue but such slogans were raised again.

“So who is responsible for this bitterness [between politicians]. We don’t even shake hands now,” he said.

Mr Sharif, 72, also recounted his ordeal of facing victimisation by Mr Khan’s government and that he was in jail when his mother passed away. He said that despite being a cancer survivor and with a backbone issue, he used to be taken to courts on the ordinary prison van just to exacerbate the condition, but he never complained.

In response to Prime Minister Sharif’s remarks, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub reiterated that the PTI would talk with the government only when Mr Khan and other incarcerated leaders and workers are released from jail.

“This should be in your minds: you torture our workers, you’ve kept our lady workers in prison vans at 45°C. My prime minister Imran Khan was kept in a death cell, there’s an oven-like environment over there,” he said, amidst sloganeering from the treasury benches.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Jailed former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party on June 23 reiterated its demand for Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja’s immediate resignation for failing to hold “free and fair” elections and protested against the “injustices” being committed against the party, according to media reports.

“Leaders of 71-year-old Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, along with other National Assembly members, led a protest rally from the Parliament to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the Constitution Avenue in Islamabad,” The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

Led by Leader of Opposition and party leader Omar Ayub, the protesters demanded the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Raja and election commission members for alleged poll rigging.

The controversial February 8 general elections in Pakistan were marred with massive rigging allegations. During the rally, Mr. Ayub called for the immediate resignation of CEC Raja and other members of the ECP, alleging that the only job of the Election Commission was to conduct clean and transparent polls, but it failed to fulfil its constitutional duty, The News International newspaper reported.

“The protesters were stopped from reaching the electoral body’s central office, as large contingents of security personnel were deployed outside the ECP building,” the report said. Slogans were also chanted for the release of party founder and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan.

Mr. Khan has been incarcerated in the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since September last year. He was shifted to this prison from the District Jail Attock, where he had been lodged after his arrest on August 5, 2023, following his conviction in the Toshakhana case.

Addressing the rally, PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Khan said, “The doors of courts have been closed on Opposition leaders; our women are in jail, and history will remember them.” He said that it was a matter of regret that all the Parliamentarians were coming out on the streets and protesting for the release of PTI founder Khan,” the report said.

“Today, we have come out against this injustice. Our voice is not being heard in this House (Parliament). Whatever we said in the House, our voice was silenced. We want the women’s release. This is a clear violation of human rights,” he said.

Addressing the protesters, the party’s central leader, Asad Qaiser, said, “On May 9, we were targeted on the pretext that we are not negotiating with anyone. Our voice is not heard in Parliament, which amounts to our gross abuse.”

After the controversial general elections, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party formed a coalition government after intense negotiations following a fractured poll verdict. Independent candidates – a majority backed by the PTI party – won 93 of the 265 National Assembly seats contested in the February 8 election.

The Election Commission of Pakistan said reserved seats cannot be allocated to the Sunni Ittehad Council.
| Photo Credit: AFP

“Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party-backed Sunni Ittehad Council is not eligible for reserved seats as the party does not allow non-Muslims to be a part of it, Pakistan’s Election Commission has said in a response submitted to the Supreme Court,” according to media reports.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on June 23 filed a reply before the Supreme Court to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) plea against the rejection of its claim on reserved seats for women and minorities in the national and provincial assemblies after the general election.

The ECP said reserved seats cannot be allocated to the SIC, which is backed by 71-year-old Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), as the party failed to submit the list of nominees for the reserved seats by the deadline of December 24, Geo News reported.

The top polls body added that as per the SIC constitution, a non-Muslim person cannot be a part of the party, which is unconstitutional.

“According to the constitution of the SIC, a non-Muslim cannot become a member of the party. The provision against the inclusion of non-Muslims in the constitution of SIC is unconstitutional. The SIC is not entitled to reserved seats for women and minorities,” the election watchdog said.

It added that the independent candidates joined the SIC after the elections, after which the ECP gave the majority 4-1 verdict of not allocating the reserved seats to the party, and later the Peshawar High Court (PHC) upheld the ruling.

“SIC is not eligible for the reserved seats. There is nothing wrong with the ECP and the PHC’s decision of not giving reserved seats to SIC. The decision is in line with the laws and Constitution,” the ECP said, according to the report.

There are 70 reserved seats in the National Assembly and another 156 in the four provincial assemblies, and the SIC was not given any seat as it had not contested the election. The party gained strength when independently elected candidates backed by the PTI party joined it after the elections.

The PTI-backed independent candidates took the lead in the February 8 elections after they won the 92 National Assembly seats followed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) (79) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) (54).

The reserved seats were allocated to all political parties according to their strength in the assemblies except the PTI-backed SIC. The SIC filed a plea which was rejected by the ECP and the PHC, and subsequently, the party challenged it in the Supreme Court.

“A full Bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez will hear the case of reserved seats on Monday,” the report said. Earlier, on May 6, in a major relief to the PTI, the apex court suspended the PHC’s decision about rejecting the SIC plea.

Following the ruling, the ECP on May 14 suspended the victory notifications of 77 candidates declared successful on the reserved seats.

The final ruling by the top court in the case would decide the fate of those 77 reserved seats. Though it may not change the current power structure, the changes in the overall number game in the assemblies may impact the law-making in the country.

Islamabad:

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif lashed out at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, alleging that after the retirement of former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, the opposition party is begging “someone else” for relief, Geo News reported.

Taking a jibe at Mr Khan, the senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said, “Hardly anyone has licked as many shoes as the PTI founder.”

Addressing the National Assembly, Khwaja Asif cited the remarks of Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) leader Aun Chaudhry. He alleged that Imran Khan was taken to General (retd) Amjad Awan’s house by hiding him in a car trunk.

Mr Asif further claimed that the jailed PTI founder made every kind of desperate request to seek relief.

“After Bajwa sahib, they [PTI] are now trying to hold the feet of someone else. Hardly anyone has ‘licked’ as many shoes as the PTI founder,” Geo News quoted the federal minister as saying.

These remarks come in response to PTI Secretary-General Omar Ayub Khan’s address in the lower house of Parliament wherein he slammed the federal government for presenting a budget against the interests of the nation and the country.

“This budget was made by an economic hitman,” said Mr Ayub, who is also the Opposition Leader in the National Assembly.

Taking a jibe at Mr Ayub, Mr Asif said his speech reminded him of his 20-year-old statements wherein he would praise PML-N leaders Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif in the same way he was hailing PTI founder Imran Khan.

The Pakistan Defence minister said that the PML-N would welcome the PTI if it apologised for the May 9 riots that broke out after the arrest of former premier Imran Khan.

The PML-N leader also slammed the opposition party for writing a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), asking the global lender to link funding to the audit of alleged rigging in the elections, Geo News reported.

“After being ousted from power, the PTI wanted the country to default,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)