Pakistan’s Imran Khan charged over inciting attacks against military

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan was indicted on Dec 5 on charges of inciting attacks against the military, a case stemming from

deadly anti-government rallies led by his party in 2023.

The indictment was the latest in dozens of cases against the 72-year-old cricket star-turned-politician, who has been in jail since late-2023. It came hours after a court issued warrants to arrest Khan’s wife.

Khan pleaded not guilty as the judge in an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi read out the charges against him and dozens of others, including his former ministers, leaders and supporters, said the local media and his party.

The party said it would challenge the indictment.

“The indictment came without any proof or evidence. Once we challenge it, we are confident it will be thrown out as it is nothing but political victimisation,” a spokesman for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party said.

The spokesman, Mr Zulfikar Bukhari, said it was not clear yet what maximum punishment Khan could face under the terrorism charges. Khan is currently on trial over corruption charges although all of his sentences have either been suspended or overturned.

In a post on X on Dec 5, Khan asked supporters to converge on Dec 13 in the north-western city of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province ruled by his party.

He demanded a judicial probe into the crackdown on a Nov 25 protest march in Islamabad which he said killed at least 12 of his supporters, and violence on May 9, 2023, which killed eight. All arrested political workers should also be released, he said.

“If these two demands are not met, a civil disobedience movement will start from Dec 14, and the government will be held responsible for any consequences,” Khan said.

Thousands of his supporters attacked and torched several military buildings and offices, including the military headquarters in Rawalpindi, on May 9, 2023, in a protest against his arrest on graft allegations.

Khan has previously denied that he directed the attacks, which were an unprecedented challenge to the military in Pakistan which has long played an outsized role in the country’s politics.

Several of Khan’s supporters have already been sentenced in connection with the violence.

A former government minister, Omar Ayub Khan, who is at present the leader of opposition in Parliament, was arrested shortly after the indictment, the party said.

Khan has been fighting court cases since he was ousted from power in 2022. He and his party say the cases were made up to keep him out of politics at the behest of the military after he had fallen out with the army's generals. The army denies the accusation.

His party has organised multiple protests over his imprisonment, demanding his release and the resignation of the government it says was formed through a rigged election earlier in 2024.

Pakistan’s government denies the rigging accusation. REUTERS