Imran handed over to NAB for 8 days in Al-Qadir Trust case

‘I fear Maqsood Chaprasi like fate’: Khan tells court

PTI chief handed over to NAB for 8 days in Al-Qadir Trust case, indicted in Toshakhana case despite ‘boycotting’ proceedings

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan told an accountability court on Wednesday that he was fearful for his life.

“I have not been to the washroom in 24 hours,” the former prime minister said during the proceedings of the Al-Qadir Trust case, in which he was arrested a day earlier.

The PTI chief requested the court to grant his personal physician Dr Faisal Sultan access to him. “I am afraid I will meet the same fate as ‘Maqsood Chaprasi’,” Imran said in reference to an alleged key witness in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s money laundering case who passed away due to a cardiac arrest last year. The PTI had termed the witness’ death ‘mysterious’.

“They give you an injection, and you slowly die,” the ex-premier said, adding that he wanted his physician, Dr Faisal, to be called in. Imran was presented before the accountability court, after being arrested from the premises of the IHC.

During the hearing, the NAB requested a 14-day physical remand of the PTI chief.  However, an accountability court granted the NAB eight-day remand of PTI Chairman.

Accountability court judge Muhammad Bashir heard the case at the New Police Guest House, wherein the NAB presented reasons behind Khan’s arrest.

However, Imran’s legal team opposed NAB’s request. His lawyer Khawaja Harris maintained that the PTI chief will cooperate in the investigation and that there was “no need for a physical remand”. The PTI chairman’s lawyer, Khawaja Harris, opposed the request and said that the case did not fall within the bureau’s ambit. He further said that NAB had not shared the inquiry report either.

On the other hand, the PTI chief contradicted NAB’s version and told the court that he was shown the arrest warrant when he was taken to the bureau’s office and not at the time of his arrest.

Separately, a sessions court also indicted the PTI chief in the Toshakhana case. Both the hearings were held at the Islamabad Police Lines, which was given the status of a court venue as a “one-time dispensation” late on Tuesday night, amid tight security.

Speaking to the media after the hearing of the case, Imran’s lawyer Sher Afzal Marwat said that Imran and lawyers boycotted the indictment proceedings. He maintained that the court indicted the PTI chief despite him expressing lack of confidence on the judge hearing the case.

“We are going to the SC today against the high court’s yesterday’s decision,” Marwat said while referring to the IHC ruling that Imran’s arrest was legal. The lawyer added that Khan was “kept awake” throughout last night, adding that he was kept in “a dirty room”. He further said that the Islamabad police did not even provide a bed to the PTI chief. “Imran’s message is that even if martial law is imposed, the nation must stand up for the rule of law,” his counsel added. Marwat said that PTI chief has “expressed no confidence in IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq”. Imran’s lawyer also expressed disbelief on the Additional Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar, adding that the PTI chief has said that he was tortured at the time of his arrest. Agencies