By Hamza Ameer
Islamabad, May 13 (IANS) Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan currently faces more than 150 legal cases registered against him in various police stations and courts spread across the country.
The popular leader and the biggest challenging hurdle for Pakistan’s military establishment and the current coalition government, may just end up seeing himself out of the election race and also the political future in the country. Legal counter to Imran Khan’s public uproar is what seems to be the countering-plan of his opponents.
The legal cases against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman, some of which may have been politically motivated, however, many are of serious nature, charging him on terrorism and incitement to violence.
And with the last 48 hours of riots, violence and chaos through protests and anger among the Khan’s supporters, the legal cases against him are lined up to become more severe in the coming days and weeks.
The current coalition government and the military establishment may not have a solution to shrink the public support of Imran Khan, but they most certainly have formulated a plan to ensure that the serious threat to their political future in power posed by Imran Khan is countered through the legal cases against him. Some of the plans may pave the way towards his disqualification from the political race and also his party’s leadership for life.
Some of the important cases, including Toshakhana case and the Al-Qadir Trust land scam case, top the list of hundreds of others, in which Khan may face disqualification through the courts.
Imran Khan has already been disqualified as Member National Assembly (MNA) in the Prohibited Funding Case by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which is now seeking his removal as PTI chief and starting criminal proceedings against him.
The Al-Qadir Trust land scam case is also another corruption case worth billions in which, Khan is accused by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of facilitating a well-known business tycoon Malik Riaz with a settlement amount of at least 60 billion rupees, which was paid by Malik Riaz in a land settlement case to Supreme Court of Pakistan.
However, Imran, being Prime Minister of the time, had the money transferred back to Malik Riaz’s account and in compensation, Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi accepted 5 billion PKR as a bribe to whitewash 60 billion PKR for Malik Riaz.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, in his recent statement, has said that the government would ensure that they do not let Imran Khan off the hook that easy now since he is under police custody, giving clear signs that Khan’s political threat would be tackled through the legal course and make way towards his removal from the election race going forward.
–IANS
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