Imran Khan arrest updates: In a major development, Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been arrested by Rangers officials from the Islamabad Judicial Complex. According to local media reports, he was arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
The arrest which Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) dubbed as "abduction" came just a day after he accused top army and intelligence officials of the recent assassination attempt.
However, it was not immediately clear what forced the Rangers to "forcibly" arrest him when he was supposed to appear in the Islamabad High Court.
Even the court was unaware of Khan's arrest motive
Interestingly, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, who has taken notice of the incident and has summoned IG Islamabad, the secretary of the interior and the additional attorney general, claimed he was also not aware of the reason behind his arrest.
Justice Farooq has directed top police officials to inform immediately who was behind the arrest and in what case Imran has been arrested, reported The Express Tribune.
The judge maintained that action would be taken, "even if it has to be taken against ministers".
What is Al-Qadir Trust case?
According to local media reports, he was arrested in Al-Qadir Trust Case. Notably, Khan, during his tenure promised of setting up a project meant for providing quality education in Jhelum, Punjab.
As per reports, Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi and several close aides-- Zulfiqar Bukhari and Babar Awan-- were involved in the project. In order to fulfil his promise, Khan formed Al-Qadir University Project Trust in which Bibi, Bukhari, and Awan were named as office bearers.
However, a deal was finalised between the then PTI government and a property tycoon, which reportedly caused a loss of 190 million pounds to the national exchequer.
As per the charges, Khan and the others accused allegedly adjusted Rs50 billion — 190 million pounds at the time — sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the government, The News International reported.
They are also accused of getting undue benefit in the form of over 458 acreof land at Mouza Bakrala, Sohawa, to establish Al Qadir University.
PTI calls supporters to stage protests
Another PTI leader Azhar Mashwani alleged that Khan had been “abducted” from inside the court by the Rangers. He said that the party had given an immediate call for staging protests in the country.
"They are torturing Imran Khan right now […] they are beating Khan sahib. They have done something with Khan sahib," another leader Musarrat Cheema said in a video message posted on the party's Twitter handle.
Former information minister and PTI Vice President Fawad Chaudhry earlier said the court has been "occupied by the Rangers" and lawyers “are being subjected to torture”.
"Imran Khan’s car has been surrounded," he added.
It is worth mentioning Khan has been facing a slew of cases since his ouster through a no-trust vote in April last year. He has rejected all these cases as political victimisation by the ruling alliance. Currently, Khan is facing over 140 cases related to terrorism, blasphemy, murder, violence, and inciting violence.
