Pakistan Information Minister Atta Tarar on Monday said that any decision about the military trial of jailed former premier Imran Khan would be made considering the merit of the case. Tarar said this at a press conference a day after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders while addressing a public rally in Islamabad demanded the government to release Khan, who has been imprisoned in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail for more than a year. “The decision of the military trial of Khan will be made on merit based on evidence,” the minister said in response to a question. Top government officials have been indicating holding a military trial of Khan for his alleged involvement in the May 9, 2023, violence when alleged PTI supporters had attacked military buildings in reaction to his arrest. However, the issue of holding military trials of civilians is pending with the Supreme Court for final adjudication and the cases of more than a hundred civilians, who were handed over to military authorities after violence, have also lingered on. In the first public rally in Islamabad after the February 8 elections, the PTI leaders asked the government to release Khan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, belonging to PTI, went a step ahead and warned the government to set Khan free within two weeks or the party would forcibly get him released. “If the founder of PTI is not legally released within one to two weeks, we will have him freed ourselves,” the chief minister said, declaring that he would take the lead and take the first bullet to get Khan out of jail. Khan’s party on Sunday held a power show, demanding his immediate release while slamming the government for its crackdown on the party as police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
The rally — postponed twice in the last two months — was held near Sangjani Cattle Market in the suburbs of Islamabad after the capital administration issued a no-objection certificate (NOC). Thousands of PTI supporters attended the rally, proving that the party’s power base was intact despite several hurdles it faced, including the incarceration of its 71-year-old founder. Khan was arrested on August 5 last year after his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan. Since then, he has been in jail in different cases. On Sunday, Khan completed 400 days in prison.
13 policemen
injured in clash
At least 13 policemen were injured in Pakistan after they clashed with a mob protesting against the disappearance of a youth in the Badin district of the Sindh province, according to the police. The incident took place in the Allah Khan Magsi village on Saturday. “The policemen were injured after they tried to disperse a mob of angry tribesmen from the Magsi clan who were protesting the disappearance of one of their youth,” a senior police official said. The youth was picked up by the police in connection with a motorcycle theft and disappeared from the lockup on Saturday. The mob got violent when the police claimed the youth was freed by a group of armed men, who took him with them.
“The mob attacked the police with bricks and sticks, and they also damaged the police station and vehicles parked at the station,” Senior Superintendent of Police Zubair Ahmed said.
As the police tried to disperse the crowd of people, 13 policemen were injured and sent to hospital, he said.
At least 6 injured
in explosion
At least six people, including three policemen, were injured in a bomb explosion that targeted a vehicle carrying workers associated with the Pakistan Polio Programme in the country’s restive northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, authorities said on Monday. The explosion resulted in injuries to three frontline polio workers and three policemen in South Waziristan district’s Wana town. The injured were immediately shifted to a hospital and their condition is stated to be stable.
Police contingents rushed to the explosion site and launched a combing operation to arrest the accused.Authorities in Pakistan last week reported its first polio case in the capital Islamabad in the last 16 years, a setback to the national efforts aimed at eradicating the crippling virus from the country. The country came close to achieving zero poliovirus cases in 2021 when only one infection was reported.So far this year, 12 cases have been reported from Balochistan, three from Sindh, and one from Punjab and Islamabad each.Separately in Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a suicide vest was thrown by two motorcyclists when they were signalled to stop by police at Jameel Chowk, Ring Road. A bomb disposal squad has been called to defuse the jacket that has seven kilograms of explosives.
