Pakistan's former Premier Khan indicted in army headquarters attack case

ISLAMABAD / KARACHI

A Pakistani court on Thursday indicted former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a case related to an attack on army headquarters last year, according to a court record.

Khan, and around 100 workers and leaders of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, pleaded not guilty.

According to the prosecution, hundreds of PTI supporters stormed the army headquarters, commonly known as GHQ, in the northeast garrison city of Rawalpindi in May last year following his brief arrest in a corruption case.

The PTI denies the charge.

Khan, 72, is currently languishing in a Rawalpindi jail in multiple cases ranging from corruption to terrorism.

Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities Thursday said police have filed 14 new cases against Khan over his party’s rally in the capital Islamabad in November.

During a hearing of a petition filed by Khan's sister Noreen Niazi in Islamabad High Court seeking fresh details of cases filed against her brother, Islamabad police informed the court that a total of 76 cases are registered in the capital.

Fourteen new cases were filed following the Nov. 24 rally held in Islamabad, police added.

Khan is now facing some 130 cases after police in the Punjab province informed the Lahore High Court that 54 cases were registered against the former prime minister in the province.

Meanwhile, Khan's aide and parliament opposition leader Omer Ayub was also arrested in Rawalpindi.

The former cricket star had called for a rally in Islamabad to seek the release of political prisoners, probe into alleged rigging of elections, as well as undoing of judicial changes.

Thousands of Khan's supporters and workers of PTI reached Islamabad but were dislodged by the government during a security operation.

PTI's interim Chairman Gohar Khan claimed that at least "12 protesters were killed and a dozen others injured" during the operation.

However, the government has rejected the PTI claims and said: "No one was killed" during the operation.

At least four security personnel, including three paramilitary rangers and one policeman, were killed when hit by a vehicle. The government has blamed PTI for the deaths, while the party denied that its workers were involved in the accident.

Later, Islamabad police registered several cases against Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, and other senior leaders of PTI.

Hundreds of PTI supporters were arrested during the operation.

Besides, a special court has also issued an arrest warrant for Bushra Bibi in a new Toshakhana (state gifts) case for "failing to appear in court for the past 10 hearings."

Khan was ousted through a successful no-trust move in April 2022, slightly over a year before the completion of a 5-year constitutional term.