Islamabad, August 5
Imran Khan was shifted to Attock jail in Pakistan’s Punjab province amid tight security on Saturday after a trial court found the former prime minister guilty of “corrupt practices” in a corruption case and sentenced him to three years in prison.
Khan, 70, was arrested from his Zaman Park home in Lahore on Saturday shortly after the Islamabad trial court convicted him in the Toshakhana corruption case.
The case alleges that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief “deliberately concealed” details of the gifts he retained from the Toshakhana, a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept, during his time as the prime minister and proceeds from their reported sales.
Khan has been shifted to Attock Jail in the city of Attock, PTI spokesperson Zulifi Bokhari said.
Police said that Khan was taken to jail amid tight security. “Security has been on high alert on the route leading to jail,” they said.
It is the same jail where former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was kept after his arrest following the toppling of his government by former president Pervez Musharraf.
Attock is located on the bank of the River Indus, with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province lying on the opposite bank of the historic river. It is also the last major town of Punjab province along the Grand Trunk Road.
Security has been beefed up after Khan’s PTI party called for peaceful protests across the country within the ambit of the law and the Constitution.
It also appealed to the Supreme Court to hear its review petition — filed earlier in the day against the maintainability of the Toshakhana case.
This is for the second time in three months that Khan has been arrested.
Earlier, he was arrested on May 9 in Islamabad from the high court’s premises in the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case, sparking violent protests by his supporters.
His party workers vandalised over 20 military installations and government buildings, including the Lahore Corps Commander House, Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad.
The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time.
Following the protests, police arrested over 10,000 PTI supporters inducing women under terrorism charges. Some of them are being tried under the tough Army Act.
Khan is facing more than 140 cases across the country and faces charges like terrorism, violence, blasphemy, corruption and murder.