Imran Khan, the ousted Prime Minister of Pakistan and head of the opposition Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party, has alleged that there is a plot to kill him in prison after his arrest in a corruption case. His lawyers claim that he was tortured and that his meals were laced with insulin to give him a heart attack. Khan, a former cricket star who remains popular in Pakistan, has urged people to fight to restore the rule of law.
Khan’s Tuesday arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case has been termed “illegal” by the Pakistan Supreme Court, which has ordered his immediate release. The court also criticized Khan’s arrest from the court where he had come to appear in a case, stating that a person cannot be arrested from court premises without the permission of the registrar. Khan is currently in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Khan’s arrest follows months of the political crisis in Pakistan and hours after Pakistan’s powerful military rebuked him for alleging a murder plot by a senior officer. His supporters responded with protests and set the house of a corps commander on fire in Lahore. They also laid siege to the army’s general headquarters in Rawalpindi.
Several politicians have been jailed in the past in Pakistan, which has faced at least three coups by the military. However, Khan’s lawyers have alleged that this is an attempt to kill him, and they have called for his immediate release. They claim that he was not given anything to eat since he was brought to police lines at 3 am, and he was kept in a dirty room without a toilet or bed. Khan’s arrest and the subsequent protests have highlighted the political instability in Pakistan and the ongoing power struggles between different factions.
Khan’s case is just the latest in a series of corruption cases that have been brought against politicians in Pakistan. The country has been struggling with corruption for years, and it has hurt its economy and political stability. The allegations against Khan and the subsequent protests have further undermined confidence in Pakistan’s political institutions, and it remains to be seen how the situation will unfold in the coming days and weeks.
