On Tuesday, the imprisoned former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, faced another arrest, this time in connection with the attack on the Pakistan Army headquarters in Rawalpindi on May 9 of the previous year. The arrest followed the issuance of a release warrant in the cipher case. Khan, already behind bars for cipher and graft charges, attended the court proceedings via video link due to security concerns preventing his physical presence in the court.
Judge Ijaz Asif of the Anti-Terrorism Court Rawalpindi conducted hearings for 12 cases related to the May 9 riots against Khan and others. The police chief of the Royal Artillery Bazar Police Station informed the court that Khan was arrested in the GHQ attack case as he was named in the case. Although the police sought Khan's physical remand, the judge declined and instructed the police to conduct the investigation at the jail.
Despite the release orders issued on Monday in the cipher case, Khan remains incarcerated due to his involvement in the Toshakhana case and the 190 million pound Al-Qadir Trust scandal. The violent protests on May 9, 2023, erupted following Khan's arrest in a corruption case, resulting in damage to over 20 military installations and state buildings, including the army headquarters in Rawalpindi.
The aftermath of the May 9 violence led to numerous arrests, with Khan and his party leaders facing multiple cases since their ouster from power in April 2022. Khan's opponents allege his involvement in the violence, a claim he denies. Ousted through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022, Khan was initially sentenced to three years in jail in the Toshakhana case in August 2022. Although the sentence was later suspended by the Islamabad High Court, he was subsequently arrested in the cipher case, leading to his current detention in Adiala jail.
(With Agency Inputs)
