“The Supreme Court has nullified all legal proceedings against Imran Khan”. These are the words to the local media, taken up by the agency Reuters, Of Babar Awanone of the former prime minister of Pakistan’s lawyers in custody on charges of corruption. Khan was arrested at the Supreme Court headquarters in the capital Islamabad, Tuesday 9 May last. Government officials said Khan and his wife they received land worth millions of dollars as bribe from a real estate mogul through a charity, the al-Qadir Fund. Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has denied all charges and asked his supporters to descend into the squares to protest against what they call a real government and military purge of PTI members, organizing a march to army headquarters.
What are the allegations against Imran Khan and what is the al-Qadir Fund – The al-Qadir Fund is a non-governmental charitable organization founded by Bushra Watto, Khan’s third wife, and the former prime minister himself in 2018, when he was still in office. The trust manages a university outside Islamabad dedicated to Islamic spirituality and teachings, a project strongly desired by theex first lady. On May 9, the interior minister Rana Sanaullah stated in a press conference that the fund was actually a cover for Khan to receive some plots of land as a bribe from a real estate tycoon (and one of Pakistan’s richest and most powerful businessmen), Malik Riaz Hussain. The government anti-corruption agency that arrested Khan had already summoned Hussain at the end of 2022 to receive clear answers about the land donated to the trust.
The bottom got almost 24 hectares of land worth seven billion Pakistani rupees (about 23 million euros) and another large piece of land in Islamabad near Khan’s house. “The trust received 180 million rupees (580 thousand euros) for operating expenses, but records showed 8.52 million rupees only (27 thousand euros, ed)” on the accounting books, added the information minister Marriyum Aurangzeb. According to reports Reutersthe alleged fraudulent scheme originated with 190 million pounds confiscated from Hussain by British authorities and repatriated to Pakistan in 2019 from Britain under an agreement between the Pakistani tycoon and the British agency. Instead of placing it in Pakistan’s treasury, Khan’s government used the money to pay the fines imposed by a court against Hussain for the illegal acquisition of government land at below market value in Karachi. The home minister then said that Hussain gave land in Jhelum and Islamabad to the al-Qadir fund in exchange for that favour.
Protest and internet down – Pakistani authorities ordered the deployment of army in the states of the on Wednesday Punjab is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the north of the country to counter large-scale demonstrations against the arrest of the former Pakistani prime minister. In fact, the day before, supporters of the former prime minister targeted the army headquarters in the city of Rawalpindistormed the residence of a regional commander of high rank in the eastern city of Lahore and set fire to at least three buildings across the country. According to Islamabad police, six people were killed and at least a hundred wounded during the clashes. Again according to the police more than 2 thousand people they were arrested all over the country. Among them seven leaders of the Pti on charges of orchestrating the protests. The authorities have also ordered the closure of schools across the country and the cancellation of end-of-year exams while the Interior Ministry has ordered the interruption of Internet services and limiting access to social networks Twitter, Facebook e YouTube. The army issued a warning on Wednesday, saying it would take a “strong reaction” to any attack against state and military facilities and stressing that the responsibility for this falls on “a group that wants to push the Pakistan towards civil war”. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Anthony Guterres, he urged the Pakistani authorities to “respect” the procedures of the rule of law in the proceedings against Imran Khan, inviting “all parties to refrain from violence” and to reduce the escalation.