On Monday, Pakistan police apprehended two associates of the former prime minister Imran Khan during a raid at his party's headquarters. This occurred despite the former leader's recent string of legal victories since his removal from power in 2022. A contingent of police surrounded the party's secretariat in Islamabad and arrested the acting chairman, Gohar Khan, and the secretary of information, Rauf Hasan, as confirmed by party spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari via a WhatsApp message to Reuters.
Subsequently, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party announced that the acting chairman had been released shortly after his detention. However, the Ministry of Interior of Pakistan identified the detained individuals as Hasan and Ahmad Waqas Janjua, the party's coordinator for international media. The ministry's statement did not include Gohar Khan. The ministry stated that the two men were under investigation but did not specify if they had been charged. Earlier, PTI had reported that Janjua was taken by police from his home in Islamabad.
Additionally, the ministry reported that the digital media wing of the secretariat was raided by both the police and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The ministry claimed that PTI was engaged in anti-state propaganda, a charge the party vehemently denies. Imran Khan has been incarcerated for approximately a year, although all four convictions against him prior to the parliamentary election in February have been either suspended or overturned.
Following his acquittal on the final conviction, Khan was rearrested along with his wife in an old corruption case involving the illegal sale of state gifts. He also faces allegations of inciting his supporters to assault military installations last year. Khan denies all charges against him. Despite what his party describes as a military-backed effort to prevent his return to power, PTI won the most seats in parliament in the February election and secured nearly two dozen additional seats in a recent court ruling.
Khan attributes his 2022 removal via a no-confidence vote to the powerful army generals of Pakistan, with whom he had a falling out, although the army denies this accusation.
