Imran to be tried in military court, says Pak minister
Pakistan’s interior minister Rana Sanaullah on Tuesday said Imran Khan will be tried in a military court as the former prime minister was the “architect” of the May 9 incidents in which military and state installations were attacked by his party workers following his arrest in a corruption case.
Appearing on a Dawn News show, Sanaullah also accused the 70-year-old chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party of personally carrying out the planning of the attacks on military installations before his arrest on the day.
There was evidence to prove the claim as well, the minister added.
When asked if Khan would be tried in the military court, he said: “Absolutely, why shouldn’t it? The programme that he made to target the military installations and then had it executed, in my understanding it absolutely is a case of a military court.” The minister accused Khan of personally orchestrating the May 9 riots.
“His supporters chanted a slogan that ‘Imran Khan is our red line’, and the planning and preparation were done on Imran Khan’s initiative and instigation. He carried it all out. He is the architect of all this discord,” he said.
When asked how Khan was able to communicate with his party leaders even from jail, the minister replied: “All this (planning) was decided before he went (to jail) that ‘who will do what and where. And when he is arrested, what would be the strategy and duties’. All of this was decided.”
The minister’s remarks come a day after defence minister Khawaja Asif said that there was no decision yet on Khan’s trial under the stringent Army Act. He, however, said that he could not “rule out” such a possibility.
“I don’t rule out the possibility that he was the planner and knew everything (about May 9),” Asif said.
Khan has denied his involvement in the violence, saying he was in the jail when the mayhem took place. He has that the establishment plans to keep him in jail for 10 years in a sedition case.
On May 9, violent protests erupted after Khan’s arrest. His party workers vandalised over 20 military installations and government buildings, including the Lahore Corps Commander House, Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad.