8-DAY CUSTODY FOR IMRAN KHAN, HE CLAIMS TORTURE, NOT ALLOWED TO USE WASHROOM FOR 24 HOURS

Wed 10 May 2023:

An anti-corruption court in Pakistan on Wednesday sent former prime minister Imran Khan on an eight-day physical remand to the National Accountability Bureau while a sessions court here indicted him in a separate graft case.

The 70-year-old chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was taken into custody by the paramilitary Rangers on Tuesday on the orders of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) by barging into a room of the Islamabad High Court.

Khan was produced in the Anti-Accountability Court No. 1 presided by judge Muhammad Bashir, the same judge who had convicted former premier Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam in a corruption case of having properties in London. Maryam was later on set free in the case by the Islamabad High Court. However, Sharif’s case is still pending.

At the start of the hearing, the NAB lawyers requested the court to grant a 14-day remand of Khan to probe the allegations against him in the Al-Qadir Trust case in which he is accused of looting Rs 50 billion of the national treasury. But Khan’s lawyer opposed the plea and asked the judge to release him as the charges were fabricated.

Khan was arrested on Tuesday in the case, sparking massive country-wide protests by his supporters.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the court reserved its ruling.

Later, announcing the reserved verdict, the accountability court sent Khan on an eight-day physical remand to the NAB.

In his statement, Khan told the accountability court that he was fearful for his life, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.

“I have not been to the washroom in 24 hours,” he said.

Khan requested the court to grant his doctor Faisal Sultan access to him.

“I am afraid I will meet the same fate as ‘Maqsood Chaprasi’,” Khan said, referring to a witness in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s money laundering case who died due to a cardiac arrest last year. Khan’s party had termed the witness’ death ‘mysterious’.

Meanwhile, the federal government has decided to deploy the Pakistan Army troops in Punjab to maintain the law and order situation in the most populous province, which witnessed violent protests in several cities following Khan’s arrest on Tuesday.

The decision was taken at the request of the Punjab government, according to a notification issued by the federal government.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said that internet services across the country will remain suspended for an indefinite period. It confirmed that the decision to block mobile broadband services was taken on the directives of the Interior Ministry.

The services were shut down as protests erupted after Khan’s arrest.

Khan’s party has claimed that at least four people were killed and over a dozen injured in different parts of the country in violent clashes between the security forces and PTI supporters.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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