The former president will have to declare again for illicit enrichment after a new day of chaos that has resulted in 60 detainees
March 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Islamabad court that is judging the case of alleged illicit enrichment by former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Jan has annulled the arrest warrant against the former president but has summoned him again to testify on March 30, at point and followed by a long day of chaos in the Pakistani capital and in Jan’s stronghold in the city of Lahore, Punjab province.
Judge Zafar Iqbal has adjourned the session and granted Jan permission to leave the court despite the fact that the former prime minister had declared himself convinced that he was going to end up in detention during his appearance. The one who did go briefly to police disposal was his chief of staff, Shibli Faraz, although he ended up being released very shortly after by order precisely from the court, so as not to further inflame the situation.
During Jan’s appearance, the Islamabad Judicial Complex was the scene of clashes between supporters of the former prime minister and the Police, who fired tear gas at the protesters, amid the official declaration of the so-called Section 144, an order from the Pakistani government provisionally suspending the right to demonstrate throughout the city.
In the so-called Toshakhana process, Jan has been accused of concealing in his declarations of assets details about some of the gifts he received during his time as prime minister between 2018 and 2022, when he was dismissed through a motion of no confidence in Parliament, at the start of a merciless battle between the former prime minister and the authorities that now govern the country.
Hours before, as soon as the former president left his fiefdom in Lahore, the Police carried out a search at his home — where he had to remove the barricades of his supporters with a crane — by virtue of an order from the high court of the city to investigate the fierce clashes this week between his supporters and the security forces.
At least 60 supporters of the former prime minister have been detained during skirmishes while the search lasted.
The Superintendent of the Punjab Police, Usman Anwar, has subsequently reported that the agents have seized, inside the president’s home, at least five AK-47 assault rifles, ammunition and empty bottles that were supposedly going to be used to the manufacture of Molotov cocktails, which could well be worth another accusation against the former prime minister.
Anwar also claimed that his men had been shot from a rooftop during a search of Jan’s home, in an incident pending investigation.
In one of the first reactions to the chaotic development of the day this Saturday, practically habitual in recent months in the country’s politics, the Pakistani president, Arif Alvi, has expressed his relief at the absence of fatalities.
“Thank God, another day in the life of Pakistan has ended without a catastrophe. But we narrowly escaped. A huge accident could have happened. I hope all politicians come together to put the country out of its misery,” he said. know on his Twitter account.
The Toshakhana is one of the dozens of cases opened against Jan, some of them for the possible crime of “terrorism” due to constant threats against the country’s current authorities, whom he considers accomplices in his fall from grace, relative given the immense power call-up that the former cricket star continues to enjoy.
