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An accountability court has approved a seven-day remand of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, in the newly filed Toshakhana case, Pakistan-based Geo News reported.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had sought a 14-day remand for Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi. However, the court rejected the request and asked the anti-graft body to present the suspects on July 29. The anti-corruption body's team presented the couple before the court after the expiry of their previous eight-day remand and also presented a progress report to the judge, according to Geo News report. Imran Khan (71), who served as Pakistan's Prime Minister from 2018 to 2022, has been incarcerated in Adiala Jail since August 2023 on multiple charges, including the Toshakhana case, the cypher case and the un-Islamic marriage case. His wife, Bushra Bibi, has remained in prison for months. The court, however, suspended Imran Khan's sentence in the Toshakhana case, while other courts overturned his convictions in the cypher and iddat cases, respectively. The chances of Imran Khan's release from prison further dimmed after the Lahore Police declared his arrest in various cases related to the May 9, 2023, riots, that started after his arrest from Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises last year, according to Geo News report. On May 9 last year, violent clashes broke out across Pakistan after former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested. The protests were held in remote and major cities as the party workers were agitated due to their chairman's arrest, with Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Islamabad summoning the armed forces to ensure law and order, ARY News reported. Moreover, army installations, including the Corps Commander's house in Lahore, had come under attack during the protests by PTI workers. Notably, the PTI founder was named as the main accused in all the May 9 riots cases. Earlier on July 20, the opposition alliance of Tehreek Tahafuz Aaeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) said on Saturday that it will hold a protest across the nation on July 26 for the release of all political prisoners, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and reclaim the "stolen mandate," The Express Tribune reported. The TTAP leadership passed a unanimous resolution seeking the immediate release of political prisoners and demanded an empowered judicial commission to investigate firing on peaceful marchers in Bannu. The opposition alliance also called for the ruling party's resignation and demanded fresh elections. It lauded the recent Supreme Court's decision on reserved seats, The Express Tribune reported. The opposition alliance's meeting was chaired by senior politician and head of the movement Mahmood Khan Achakzai and was attended by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Secretary General and Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan, Leader of Opposition in Senate Senator Shibli Faraz and PTI Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan. Sunni Ittehad Council chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Majlis Wahdat Muslimeen Allama chairman Nasir Abbas and JUI Shirani Group leader Syed Qasim Agha also attended the meeting. (ANI)
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