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

“An accountability court has extended by 11 days the physical remand of jailed former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the new Toshakhana corruption case,” media reports said on Friday (August 9, 2024.)

The hearing, presided over by Accountability Court Judge Nasir Javed Rana, took place on August 8, 2024 in the makeshift courtroom set up at Rawalpindi’s high-security Adiala Jail, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

Judge Rana approved the remand extension of the former first couple for 11 days after the lapse of their 10-day physical remand in the fresh Toshakhana corruption case.

Imran Khan (71) has been imprisoned at the Adiala Jail for more than a year now upon his conviction in multiple cases. His wife, 49-year-old Bibi, is also jailed along with him.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) told the court that the accused had cooperated with the investigation team only twice during the previous 10-day remand. The anti-corruption watchdog requested an additional 14-day physical remand to complete the investigation.

“However, after hearing the arguments, the court granted an 11-day extension to the remand and adjourned the hearing until August 19,” the report said. Imran Khan and his wife have already completed 24 days in remand in connection with the new Toshakhana corruption case.

In the case, the NAB accused the former couple of purchasing a jewellery set from the Toshakhana and selling it by violating the laws. Toshakhana is a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept.

According to Toshakhana rules, gifts/presents and other such materials received by persons to whom these rules apply shall be reported to the Cabinet Division. The NAB filed the fresh Toshakhana case against the couple hours after a district and sessions court quashed their conviction in their un-Islamic marriage case last month.

The court’s short order stated that the two should be immediately released unless they were wanted in other cases. After the hearing on Thursday, the former Pakistan PM told reporters that the ruling coalition government led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party would collapse in two months.

“These fools are not understanding that this government doesn’t have more than two months. The government is going to collapse in two months,” he was quoted as saying in the report. “I have a lot of time (at my disposal), but they (the rulers) are running out of time,” he added.

He said that he would not strike a deal with the powers no matter how long the government kept him behind bars, “A deal is made by someone who has committed a crime. I have no money stashed abroad, nor do I own any property outside the country,” he said.

“I have fought all the cases against me and will continue to fight more. The purpose of filing cases against me and my wife was to break the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf). (The) NAB has filed four cases against me for Toshakhana gifts,” he added.

Imran Khan also said he had not tendered an apology for the May 9 riots, which broke out after the Pakistan Rangers arrested him from the Islamabad High Court premises during his appearance in a corruption case.

“I have not made any unconditional apology. For the past 12 months, I have been saying that the CCTV footage [of May 9 incidents] should be released,” he said.

“If it shows PTI workers were involved in rioting, I will apologise, expel them from the party, and ensure they are punished. Am I crazy to tell my people to attack the military?” he added. He faces more than 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.

Bushra Bibi, left, with her husband and Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran, right. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Bushra Bibi, the wife of jailed former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, has been named as a suspect in 11 cases, including the attack on the army headquarters on May 9, 2023, the Rawalpindi district police informed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on July 30.

The Rawalpindi police presented a report in the IHC, providing details of the cases filed against 49-year-old Ms. Bibi, who has been incarcerated in the Adiala Jail of Rawalpindi along with her husband. The court had ordered authorities to provide details of the cases registered against her.

During the hearing, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor also submitted a response according to the court’s order, revealing that four cases have been registered against her with NAB, including three in Rawalpindi and one in Lahore.

Though Rawalpindi and Islamabad police and NAB submitted their responses, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Balochistan police have not come up with the details of the cases against Ms. Bibi. The IHC issued fresh notices to the FIA and Balochistan police to come up with details by August 5 and adjourned the case until then.

Ms. Bibi married Mr. Khan in 2018 and became his third wife. During Khan’s rule, she was considered extremely powerful but after the fall of the government, she, like her husband, has been implicated in several cases.

Ms. Bibi has been named in various cases, including the Army Museum, GHQ Gate 4 attack case, the burning of a sensitive military building in Saddar Cantt, attacking an intelligence agency office on Murree Road, and other incidents of arson, rioting, and vandalism in different areas.

She has also been named in cases at the RA Bazaar, Civil Line, New Town, City, Waris Khan, and Taxila police stations.

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.)

Islamabad:

A court in Pakistan granted on Wednesday a request by the wife of former Prime Minister Imran Khan to shift to jail, her lawyer said, instead of house arrest ordered by the government because of security concerns.

Bushra Bibi, detained at Khan’s hilltop mansion in Islamabad since the couple’s January conviction on charges of illegally selling state gifts, had challenged the house arrest, her lawyer Naeem Panjutha posted on social media platform X.

Through her lawyers Bibi had filed an appeal in the Islamabad High Court, asking to be shifted to the jail.

The court ordered authorities to shift her to Adyala jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Khan, 70, a former cricket superstar, is serving his 14-year sentence, his party said in a statement.

The party said Bibi had complained of being served contaminated food by the authorities at the house, which was declared a sub-jail.

The authorities have denied the accusation.

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