No sort of torture inflicted on IK; Rubbishes claims of political victimisation
Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah said Tuesday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has been arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case for embezzling Rs60 billion.
Talking to media in Islamabad, he said the United Kingdon’s agencies have traced ill-gotten money worth £190 million of a property tycoon, which actually belonged to the people of Pakistan.
He said that £190 million (or Rs60 billion) had to be repatriated to the national exchequer of Pakistan, but it was adjusted in Supreme Court’s account.
“What an irony it is that the apex court did not take notice of the ficer of involvement in the assassination attempt against him in Wazirabad.
Earlier in the day, the IHC had taken a notice of Imran’s arrest and directed the Islamabad police chief, the interior ministry secretary and the additional attorney general to appear before the court within 15 minutes.
The IHC CJ said that he was showing “restraint” and warned that he would “summon” the prime minister if the Islamabad police chief did not appear before the court.
“Come to court and tell us why Imran has been arrested and in which case,” Justice Farooq said.
When the hearing resumed, the Islamabad IG appeared before the court alongside the additional attorney general and the interior secretary.
“We told you to appear in court within 15 minutes but you came after 45 minutes,” the IHC CJ observed, expressing anger at the delay.
The Islamabad IG replied that he had found out about Imran’s arrest from the media. “He has been arrested in a case pertaining to corrupt practices,” he told the judge and submitted the PTI chief’s arrest warrant in court.
“But as far as I know and from what the court staff said, Imran was not arrested by the NAB,” Justice Farooq noted. “I will issue an appropriate order if the arrest was in violation of the law,” he added.
Subsequently, Barrister Gohar Khan — who was present at the time of the arrest — came to the rostrum. He said that he was with Imran when he was taken away by Rangers officials.
“They were trying to arrest the PTI chief before he even entered the biometric room,” the lawyer said, adding that Rangers personnel broke down the windows and used pepper spray.
“They hit Imran Khan sahib with a rod,” Gohar told the court and then went on to say that he was ready to record his statement with the court in this regard.
“I have seen all this from my own eyes,” he said. “They also struck his injured leg […] they have violated judicial independence and fundamental rights,” the lawyer said.
For his part, PTI lawyer Khawaja Haris said that justice was every citizen’s right. “Today’s arrest is nothing less than an attack on judicial independence,” he contended.
Haris further argued that the law did not allow the NAB to arrest a person while an inquiry was still underway.
“Imran Khan was in the process of getting his biometrics done […] I was there in the room,” Advocate Ali Bukhari, another PTI lawyer said.
“The Rangers told us to open the doors but the police objected,” he stated. “But then Rangers personnel broke the windows and entered the room. Rangers tortured everyone who was present in the room,” he added.
The IHC CJ stated that he never knew that the accountability watchdog could carry out an arrest in such a manner.
“Is this not an attack on judicial independence? Is this arrest not illegal? Everything is in front of you […] lawyers have been attacked […] my court has been attacked […] I have been attacked,” Justice Farooq remarked.
The judge took strong exception over the arrest taking place at the IHC premises.
At this point, the additional attorney general retorted whether the parking lot and other areas of the IHC should be considered the same as the courtroom.
Meanwhile, IG Nasir said that he was not aware of the details of the arrest, to which Justice Farooq said that the entire ordeal had been narrated by the lawyers.
“If you give me a chance, I can look into the matter,” the police chief said.
