Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared before a special court in Islamabad on Wednesday for a hearing on a graft charge, a day after paramilitary forces arrested him outside a court here, sparking widespread protests across the country.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s interior ministry announced today that it has requested the army’s assistance in maintaining law and order in the eastern province of Punjab. According to Geo News, Judge Muhammad Bashir presided over the hearing in which the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) requested a 14-day physical detention of Khan in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case.
The chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is being represented by a team of lawyers that includes Khawaja Haris, Barrister Ali Gohar, and Advocate Ali Bukhari.
Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi, Deputy Prosecutor General of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), and Raffique Masood, Special Prosecutor, were also present in court during the proceedings, according to Geo News.
Sardar Zulqarnain, the prosecutor, and Mian Omar Nadeem, the investigation officer, represented NAB in court. Imran Khan was arrested outside Islamabad High Court on Tuesday by Pakistan Rangers on the basis of a warrant issued by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
The NAB had opened an investigation into Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi, and others for allegedly acquiring hundreds of canals of land in the name of Al Qadir University Trust, resulting in a 190 million pound loss to the national exchequer.
The Dramatic Arrest of Imran Khan
Rangers detained the former prime minister on Tuesday in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case on the orders of the NAB, an independent anti-graft organisation. He was then transferred to its headquarters in Rawalpindi, the garrison town, for questioning.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) later stated that the detention was legal and reserved its decision; as a result, Khan’s legal team intends to challenge the arrest in the Supreme Court today.
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