Pak ex-PM Imran tells court he fears for his life

PTI, May 10, 2023, 6:07 PM IST

Image credit: ANI / File

Iskenderun: Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan told an accountability court here on Wednesday that he feared for his life and was afraid that he will meet the same fate as Maqsood Chaprasi, a key witness in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s money laundering case who died last year.

Khan, 70, appeared before the accountability court at the Police Lines Headquarters in H-11/1 Islamabad on Wednesday, a day after he was dragged from the Islamabad High Court and arrested, sparking widespread clashes between his supporters and police.

”I have not been to the washroom in 24 hours,” the former prime minister said during the hearing.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief requested the court that his personal physician Dr Faisal Sultan be granted access to him, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.

”I am afraid I will meet the same fate as ‘Maqsood Chaprasi’,” Khan said in reference to a key witness in Prime Minister Sharif’s money laundering case who died due to a cardiac arrest last year, it said.

The PTI had termed the witness’ death ”mysterious”.

”They give [you] an injection, and [you] slowly die,” Khan said.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) requested a 14-day physical remand of the PTI chief. The anti-corruption court, however, sent Khan on an eight-day physical remand to NAB.

Accountability court judge Muhammad Bashir heard the case at the New Police Guest House, where the NAB presented reasons behind the former prime minister’s arrest.

Last night, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) termed Khan’s arrest legal in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

Khan’s dramatic arrest on Tuesday deepened the political turmoil and sparked violent protests across Pakistan. Khan’s party has claimed that at least four people were killed and over a dozen injured in different parts of the country in violent clashes between the security forces and PTI supporters.

Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.

He is the only Pakistani prime minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.