Washington: The US declared the cases against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and other politicians as an internal matter of Pakistan.
“Cases against Imran Khan and other politicians in Pakistan are an internal matter,” the State Department said via email in response to a query sent by The News.
“We demand respect for democratic principles and the rule of law in Pakistan, as we do around the world,” said the department, which has repeatedly criticized Khan’s US-led government. has termed the claims of intrusion as “baseless”.
The former prime minister was jailed for three years on Saturday after a court in the capital convicted him of corruption in the Tosha Khana case, a move that bars him from contesting elections later this year. can go.
Anyone convicted of a criminal offense is disqualified from running for office in Pakistan, and parliament is likely to be dissolved in the next two weeks before completing its term, with a national election in mid-November or earlier. Voting will be done.
“His dishonesty has been proved beyond doubt,” Judge Humayun Dilawer wrote in his judgment in the case which he found based on gifts and rightly declared when he was prime minister. did not
“He has been found guilty of corrupt practices by deliberately and knowingly concealing benefits derived from the national exchequer.”
After he was taken away by police on Saturday, Khan posted a video statement on his X account before his arrest calling on his supporters to protest.
“My countrymen, they must have arrested me and by the time this message reaches you I will be in jail,” he said. My only request and appeal is that you do not sit quietly at home.
“This is a fight for justice, for your rights, for your freedom…not just to fall chains, to break them. You must continue to protest peacefully until you get your rights.”
Khan, 70, has faced multiple court cases over the charges, which he says are politically motivated since he was ousted in a no-confidence vote last year, and when he was sentenced on Saturday. He was not there when told.
The judge also fined him 100,000 rupees (about $350).
Soon after the verdict, the police entered his house in Lahore and took him away.
“A thief has been arrested today,” government information minister Maryam Aurangzeb told reporters.
Khan spent the night in a jail in Attock, a historic fort city 60 kilometers (37 mi) west of Islamabad.
