Ex-PM Khan booked in six new cases relating to Islamabad protests — party

Security officers escort Pakistani former Prime Minister Imran Khan as he appeared in Islamabad High Court, Islamabad, Pakistan on May 12, 2023. (REUTERS/File)

• The protests resulted in clashes that Pakistan’s government says killed three paramilitary soldiers and a policeman
• Khan’s party has held several protests this year to demand his release from prison and to challenge Feb. 8 poll results

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan has been booked in six new cases relating to last week’s protests in Islamabad, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said on Monday, adding to legal woes of the incarcerated premier.
Khan’s PTI led supporters to Islamabad from Peshawar and other cities in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on November 24, seeking to pressure the government to release the ex-premier from prison.
The protests resulted in clashes that Pakistan’s government says killed three paramilitary soldiers and a police officer, and injured hundreds of others. The PTI has named 12 people who it says were killed during the crackdown.
On Monday, the PTI said the Rawalpindi police sought physical remand of the former premier in cases relating to last week’s protests, but a court ordered his judicial custody till the moving of bail applications in all the cases.
“Imran Khan’s counsels Barrister Salman Safdar, Salman Akram Raja, Usman Riaz Gill and PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, along with his family members, will meet him today,” the PTI said in a statement.
Separately, PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi was brought from Lahore to Adiyala jail in Rawalpindi to be presented before a judge in a case relating to violent protests in the country by PTI supporters on May 9, 2023, according to Khan’s party.
“After being handed over to jail authorities, we are hopeful his meetings with his legal team and party leaders will resume accordingly,” it added.
Both Khan and Qureshi have been in jail since August last year and entangled in a slew of legal cases, which they say were politically motivated to keep the party out of power.
The PTI party has staged several protests this year to demand the release of Khan and to challenge results of the Feb. 8 national election, which it says were manipulated to favor its opponents. The Pakistani government and election authorities deny this.
Last week’s protests were by far the largest to grip the capital since the poll and the Pakistani government said they caused Rs192 billion per day indirect losses to the economy.