An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan indicted jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan and several close associates Thursday for allegedly inciting supporters to attack military installations during anti-government protests in 2023.
The special tribunal convened the hearing and announced the indictment at Adiala Jail, the detention facility near Islamabad where Khan has been incarcerated for more than a year in connection with various legal proceedings and charges against him.
The 72-year-old former prime minister and his co-defendants asserted their innocence of Thursday’s charges stemming from the violent protests that occurred on May 9, 2023.
The nationwide demonstrations, spearheaded by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, party, erupted in response to his brief arrest on corruption allegations. The ensuing clashes with riot police resulted in the deaths of at least 10 protesters.
Authorities also accused PTI supporters of attacking and ransacking key state buildings and military facilities, including the General Headquarters, or GHQ, in Rawalpindi.
Local media quoted the public prosecutor as arguing before the court Thursday that pressuring the government through violent protests “falls under the category of terrorism” and that the attack on the GHQ “was carried out with the intention of inciting the Pakistani army to revolt.”
Khan and his party have consistently accused state intelligence agency operatives of infiltrating protests and orchestrating the May 9 violence against military installations to justify a subsequent monthslong security crackdown against the PTI and a roundup of hundreds of its members.
Dozens of detainees also have been handed over to military custody in connection with the riots, as reported by relatives of the detainees.
A statement from the PTI expressed confidence Thursday in its legal team’s ability to challenge the indictment in appropriate courts, “and hopefully justice will be served.”
Khan, prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has been entangled in dozens of legal proceedings and prosecutions since his ouster from power through an opposition parliamentary vote of no confidence. He asserts that the legal challenges are fabricated charges intended to prevent his return to politics at the behest of Pakistan’s powerful military, a charge the government denies.
In August 2023, the cricket star-turned-prime minister was sentenced and arrested in a corruption case he dismissed as politically motivated. Subsequently, in several other lawsuits, Khan was convicted and sentenced to multiple prison terms just days before parliamentary elections in February 2024.
Appeals courts have overturned or suspended all his convictions and sentences, citing a lack of evidence or trial transparency. However, authorities have prevented Khan from leaving the prison by launching new charges against him each time a court orders his release on bail.
Last month, the police notified a federal high court that more than 70 cases had been registered against Khan in Islamabad alone.
In the run-up to general elections on February 8, 2024, Pakistan’s election commission, through disputed rules, blocked the PTI from contesting the vote. Candidates nominated by Khan were eventually compelled to contest the elections as independents and secured the highest number of seats, primarily owing to his growing popularity. Nevertheless, their tally fell short of the threshold required to establish a government independently.
The PTI has staged repeated nationwide street protests to demand Khan’s release from what it asserts is “unlawful” detention. It also has called for the resignation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government, contending that it is an outcome of rigged elections and the PTI’s “stolen mandate.”
Late last month, Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, the former first lady, led thousands of supporters into Islamabad to advocate for their demands. The government carried out a crackdown on November 26 to disperse what the PTI called a “peaceful protest” march.
The ensuing clashes resulted in the deaths of at least 12 protesters, according to PTI leaders and relatives of several victims. They say most of the victims were killed by gunfire from law enforcement personnel, while hundreds of others sustained bullet wounds.
Pakistani officials have persistently denied the allegations, asserting that no protesters were killed. They say security forces did not use “firearms” and instead employed tear gas and rubber bullets.
The government has accused protesters of ramming a vehicle into security force members, resulting in the deaths of four of them. However, the charges have been disputed by PTI officials and journalists covering the protest march both for local and foreign media.
“The government had shown restraint, as law enforcement agencies were only equipped with water cannons and tear gas, not live ammunition,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Wednesday in an unusual meeting with foreign diplomats in Islamabad. The state TV broadcast live parts of his speech to foreign guests, including envoys from the United States, China, Britain and Japan.
The meeting to address a domestic political crisis was a first in Pakistan's diplomatic history, a foreign ministry official told VOA anonymously because of the lack of authority to discuss the matter with the media.
Critics argued that the unusual briefing to foreign diplomats reflected increasing pressure on the Pakistani government following the violent crackdown on the opposition party, the country’s largest and most popular political force.
