Pak ruling alliance hails ex-PM Imran's conviction, arrest in corruption case

Pakistan’s ruling alliance on Saturday welcomed former prime minister Imran Khan's three-year prison sentence and his arrest in a corruption case.

Khan, 70, was arrested from his Zaman Park home in Lahore on Saturday shortly after an Islamabad trial court found him guilty of “corrupt practices” in the Toshakhana corruption case and sentenced him to three-year imprisonment.

Additional Judge Humayun Dilawar of the Islamabad-based district and sessions court also imposed a fine of Rs 100,000 on Khan and noted that the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party would be kept in jail for another six months if he failed to pay the fine.

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"He cheated while providing information about gifts he obtained from the Toshakhana which later proved to be false and inaccurate. His dishonesty has been established beyond doubt," the court order said.

Addressing the media after the court ruling, Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb said the detailed verdict has proved that Khan committed the offence of corruption by making and publishing false statements.

“He has been jailed for being dishonest and corrupt,” she said.

The minister said legal formalities and due procedure were followed and the decision of the court has nothing to do with politics or the upcoming election.

The trial court announced the verdict after at least 40 hearings, she said, adding that the whole investigation took almost 13 to 14 months.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari made a terse comment on the conviction of Khan, saying: “he got what he did to others”.

Defence minister Khawaja Asif posted on social media platform X a picture of Khan with his party leaders eating sweets following the arrest of former premier Nawaz Sharif.

“People celebrating the verdict against Nawaz Sharif. Among them, those who are apparently with Imran Khan today, should definitely get their DNA checked – all will be fake leaders,” he said.

However, former ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani expressed concern over the arrest of Khan.

“Another former prime minister convicted and disqualified from running for office in Pakistan. A sad reflection of lack of full democracy. One can disagree with him, his actions, & his ever-changing views but still recognize that this is just a rerun of Pakistan’s sorry past,” he posted on X, formerly called Twitter.

Khan's arrest on Saturday comes approximately three months after his first arrest on May 9 when he was detained in Islamabad from the high court’s premises in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

His arrest that day resulted in widespread violence and saw important military installations come under attack, prompting the government to launch a severe crackdown against his party.

While Khan was released the next day, thousands of PTI workers and almost the entire top-tier leadership was rounded up.

In a pre-recorded message shared on social media platform X a few hours after his arrest, Imran said: “By the time this message reaches you, I will be in jail.”

“In the wake of my arrest, I want you to continue peaceful protests and not to sit quietly inside your house," he said.

“My movement is not for myself, but for you, for the future of your children. If you will not stand up for your rights, you will live a life that is of slaves and slaves have no life. Slaves are similar to how ants are — on the ground — they do not fly high," he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper.

“This is a battle for your rights and freedom … you have to continue peaceful protests until you get your right, which is seeing a government elected by you and not a qabza mafia,” he added

The trial court verdict came a day after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) set aside a session court’s verdict to uphold the maintainability of the Toshakhana case for criminal proceedings against Khan.

Khan was indicted in the Toshakhana case in May which was filed last year on the complaint of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) which had disqualified him in the same case in October 2022.

The case alleges that the PTI chief “deliberately concealed” details of the gifts he retained from the Toshakhana, a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept, during his time as the prime minister and proceeds from their reported sales.

According to reports, Khan received 58 gifts worth more than Rs 140 million from world leaders during his three-and-a-half-year stint and retained all of them either by paying a negligible amount or even without any payment.

The gift Khan kept with himself included a diamond watch, a pair of cufflinks, a ring, a pen and several watches.

Khan is facing more than 140 cases across the country and faces charges like terrorism, violence, blasphemy, corruption and murder.

Khan was ousted from power in April last year after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.