Former Pakistani Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, Imran Khan, was taken into custody on Tuesday by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) with the assistance of the Pakistan Rangers, in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case. Imran Khan was arrested on the premises of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) where he had appeared in two cases, according to his cousin, Saifullah Niazi. The Islamabad IGP confirmed that Imran Khan had been arrested, shown the warrant before the arrest, and shifted to the NAB Rawalpindi office. Section 144 had been imposed in the capital city, and there was peace.
The IHC Chief Justice, Amir Farooq, summoned the IGP and the Secretary of Interior to court within 15 minutes of the arrest, questioning why Imran Khan had been arrested and which case he was involved in. Farooq further said that the act was wrong and would not hesitate to summon Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif if the IGP and Secretary of Interior would not appear in court.
Barrister Gohar Khan, who was present at the IHC during the arrest, claimed that Imran was tortured, stating that his head and leg were hit, and his wheelchair was tossed aside. Witnesses claimed that contingents of paramilitary forces and armored personnel carriers entered the IHC shortly after Imran Khan entered the gate, blocking the gate with armored vehicles and whisking him away under heavy security.
Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, and their close aides Zulfiqar Bukhari and Babar Awan are allegedly involved in the Al-Qadir University Project Trust. The trustees signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a private company involved in the real estate business to receive donations from the latter, which allotted land to the trust. Bushra Bibi signed the MoU effective in March 2019. Imran Khan’s graft case is one of over 100 cases registered against him since he was ousted from power in April last year.
