With the swift conviction and arrest of Imran Khan on Saturday in a corruption case, Pakistan has maintained its notoriety for jailing former prime ministers while avoiding action against military dictators for many years. violations of the Constitution.
Khan, the leader of Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was arrested at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore after a court in Islamabad sentenced him to three years in prison for concealing proceeds from prostitution. Toshakhana state gift sale.
Toshakhana is a division of the Cabinet Department that stores gifts given to leaders and government officials by other heads of government and foreign dignitaries. Khan bought gifts, including a valuable watch given to him by a Saudi prince, and sold it for a profit.
The 70-year-old leader was allowed to buy Toshakhana's gifts and also conduct the sale but failed to notify the Election Commission of Pakistan of the money he earned, which he was accused of concealing, a crime by law. In more favorable times, Khan might have escaped a warning or a court sentence, but he was unlucky as his discord with the powerful military establishment resulted in his ouster from the government. government in April last year.
Khan is not the first Pakistani prime minister to go to jail, the country has many enviable examples of the treatment given to elected leaders in its sordid history.
First on the list was Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, a Bengali politician from East Pakistan at the time who served as the fifth prime minister. He was arrested in January 1962 and jailed on charges of "anti-state activities". His real crime was refusing to support the military leader, General Ayub Khan. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was the ninth prime minister, was arrested for plotting to assassinate a political opponent in 1974. He was sentenced to death and hanged on April 4, 1979.
Benazir Bhutto served as prime minister twice from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996. The country's only female prime minister has been repeatedly arrested, first in 1985 and put under house arrest within 90 days.
In August 1986, she was arrested for denouncing military dictator Ziaul Haq at a rally in Karachi. In April 1999, she was sentenced to five years in prison for bribery and disqualified and fined over £5 million. She avoided arrest while living in exile.
Nawaz Sharif was arrested in 1999 after General Pervez Musharraf took office, then was exiled for 10 years.
In July 2018, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz in a corruption case. In December of the same year, he was sentenced to seven years in prison in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case. He went to London for treatment in 2019 and never returned.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was arrested in July 2019 in connection with a liquefied natural gas (LNG) corruption case but was later released on bail.
