Imran Khan of Pakistan was charged with encouraging assaults against military personnel

Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, was charged on Thursday with encouraging assaults against the military in connection with his party’s violent anti-government demonstrations from the previous year.

The 72-year-old politician and former cricket player has been imprisoned since late last year; this charge was the most recent in dozens of cases against him. It happened just hours after a judge issued arrest warrants for Khan’s wife.

According to his party and local media, Khan entered a not guilty plea as the judge in a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court read out the charges against him and hundreds of other people, including his former ministers, leaders, and followers.

The party declared that the indictment would be contested.

“There was no proof or evidence to support the indictment. A spokesperson for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party stated, “Once we challenge it, we are confident it will be thrown out because it is nothing but political victimization.”

Zulfikar Bukhari, the spokesperson, stated that the greatest penalty Khan could receive for the terrorism allegations was yet unknown. Although all of Khan’s penalties have been revoked or suspended, he is still on trial for corruption.

On May 9, 2023, thousands of Khan’s fans protested his arrest on graft charges by attacking and setting fire to a number of military offices and buildings, including the military headquarters in Rawalpindi. The violence claimed the lives of at least eight people.

Khan has denied being the attack’s mastermind in the past.
The attacks presented Pakistan’s military, which has historically had a significant influence on the nation’s politics, with an unprecedented problem.

In relation to the violence, a number of Khan’s supporters have already received sentences.

According to the party, Omar Ayub Khan, a former government minister and current opposition leader in parliament, was taken into custody outside the jail soon after the indictment.

Since his overthrow in 2022, Khan has been battling legal battles. After he had a falling out with the army’s generals, he and his party claim that the cases were made up to keep him out of politics at the military’s request. The charge is denied by the army.

His party has staged many demonstrations in response to his detention, calling for both his release and the resignation of the government, which it claims was established through a stolen election earlier this year.

The claim of rigging is denied by the government.

On November 25, Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, led thousands of supporters in the capital city of Islamabad in a fatal protest march, intensifying a confrontation with the government and its military backing.

She was repeatedly summoned to appear in a graft case, but she failed to show up, so a court issued arrest warrants for her on Thursday.