Punjab police to interrogate former Pak PM Imran Khan in jail in May 9 cases

Lahore: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan will be interrogated by Punjab police in jail after an anti-terrorism court here granted his 10-day physical remand in a dozen cases linked to the May 9 riots.

The Punjab police on Sunday arrested Khan, 71, in 12 terrorism cases, including an attack on a senior army officer in Lahore, soon after he and his wife Bushra Bibi were acquitted in the Iddat case, making sure the cricketer-turned-politician remains in jail.

On Monday evening, Khan attended the proceedings of the Anti-Terrorism Court, Lahore, through a video call on WhatsApp from Adiala jail in Rawalpindi and rejected the charges against him.

Khan said he did not incite anyone to violence and added that his party leaders and workers were subjected to great injustice.

“I was arrested after they broke the glass of a room in the Islamabad High Court on May 8, 2023. In my political career spanning 28 years, I had never called for violent protests. My party men were peaceful, but they were attacked by the law enforcement agencies," Khan told the ATC.

Khan said he had applied to a judicial inquiry into the May 9, 2023, riots which was still pending before the court.

The founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party told the court that all the CCTV footage supporting his claim that it was a false flag operation against the PTI had been erased. "Even at Capitol Hill, the punishments were given based on video evidence," he said, referring to the unprecedented attack on the Capitol Building in Washington, DC by supporters of former US president Donald Trump on January 6, 2021.

Talking about the powerful military establishment, Khan said: "They ask me to apologise, but I say they committed the injustice, so they should apologise." ATC Judge Khalid Arshad told Khan that the court would include his statement in the proceedings.

Khan’s lawyers Usman Gill and Azhar Siddique, through a video link appearance, opposed the grant of physical remand of Khan and said the jailed former premier should have been brought to the court from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi during the hearing involving the grant of physical remand.

The judge remarked that he spoke to Khan for five minutes and he seemed perfectly fine.

Khan, who is facing over 200 cases, has been in jail since August last year.

The PTI believes he is being arrested in more cases on the beat of the military establishment to make sure that he does not come out of jail.

"Rejection of pre-arrest bail pleas is a ploy to keep Imran Khan in jail for a longer period," PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan said.

"Pakistan is under the grip of the worst personal dictatorship and the law of the jungle and the sole purpose of dismissing Imran Khan’s bail pleas was to prolong his unlawful incarceration after his acquittal in all other false, fabricated and politically motivated cases," Hasan said.