Imran Khan

The court found him guilty of “corrupt practices by hiding the benefits he accrued from the national exchequer wilfully and intentionally”, Dawn reported. “He cheated while providing information of gifts he obtained from Toshakhana which later proved to be false and inaccurate. His dishonesty has been established beyond doubt,” the court order read.

"Cases against Imran Khan and other politicians on Pakistan are an internal matter," US State Department's spokesperson was quoted by Dawn as saying.

Imran Khan was accused of opting to corrupt practices to not only acquire gifts, jewellery and other items worth billions of rupees, but also using his office to tailor the procedures, get under-valued assessments done and later pay 20 per cent of their under-valued price through undeclared accounts. 

Currently, hundreds of cases, including treason, corruption, exposing state secrets and contempt, are registered against Khan, forcing him to spend hours with his legal team to find ways to get relief from the courts. For months now,Khan and his legal team have been trying to tackle the legal hearings either by questioning the legality of the cases, getting bails or by becoming part of the proceedings.

In his confession, Imran Khan's former principal secretary Azam Khan detailed how the former premier used the cipher from Pakistan’s mission in the US to gain political mileage and build on his anti-establishment and the regime change narrative. According to details, Azam Khan’s statement was supposedly recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. 

In a bid to seek assurance and support for the key objectives and policies under the recently announced $3 billion bailout programme, a delegation of the IMF called on the PTI chief in Lahore, days before the global lender's executive board meeting to review.

The IMF's resident representative Esther Perez Ruiz said in a statement that the meetings with political parties were to "seek assurances of their support for the key objectives and policies under a new IMF-supported program ahead of the approaching national elections", Geo News reported.

Sources said three of these cases had been registered on May 9 and the other three on May 10, under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), The News reported. The joint investigation teams (JITs) are carrying out a probe into all the cases, they added. Sources further stated that the cases had been registered at Civil Lines in Faisalabad, Samanabad, RA Bazar, and New Town police stations in Rawalpindi, City Police Station in Mianwali and Police Station Cantt in Gujranwala, on behalf of their respective police officials.

The latest changes, which were made through an ordinance promulgated by the acting president, are believed to help the government in providing relief to former premier Nawaz Sharif and his family facing graft cases. But it will also work in their favour to ensure Khan's arrest and detention. 

Accordingly, a strategy has been devised for protest in the event of Imran Khan’s arrest, The News reported. However, the party sources said this time the protest will be “really peaceful” and no one would go near any cantonment or military areas, the report said.