ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Pakistan’s capital is set to announce the long-awaited verdict today, Monday, in a case involving former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Khan, in which the two are accused of receiving land worth millions of dollars as bribe from a real estate tycoon through a trust. 

The Islamabad accountability court had reserved the case’s verdict and was to announce it on Dec. 23, 2024. However, the decision was delayed to Jan. 6 due to winter vacations. The court delayed the decision for a second time till Jan. 13, drawing criticism from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. 

The Al-Qadir Trust case, as it has popularly come to be known, involves a charitable trust set up by Khan and his third wife Bushra Khan in 2018 when he was still in office. Pakistani authorities have accused Khan and Bushra of receiving the land, worth up to 7 billion rupees ($25 million), from property developer Malik Riaz, who was charged in Britain with money laundering.

Authorities accused Khan of getting the land in exchange for a favor to the property developer by using 190 million pounds repatriated by Britain in the money laundering probe to pay fines levied by a court against the developer. Khan’s aides have previously said that the land was donated to the trust for charitable purposes and that neither he nor his wife personally benefited from it. Riaz has also denied any wrongdoing.

“Not beneficiary, not owner, no illegal gratification taken or given, no authority misused, no loss caused and no crime committed — period,” Gohar Ali Khan, the PTI chairman, wrote on social media platform X on Monday. 

Khan’s party last week said the repeated delays in announcing the verdict puts a question mark on the legitimacy of the merits of the trial, alleging that it was conducted based on “phony evidence.”

Khan, who has been in jail since August 2023 in a slew of cases, says the cases against him are politically motivated to keep him and his party away from power. Since his ouster from office, the former prime minister has led a campaign of unprecedented defiance against the country’s powerful military, accusing them of colluding with his rivals to orchestrate his removal.

The military has denied Khan’s allegations and insisted strongly it does not interfere in politics. 

KARACHI: Tens of thousands of people, including women and children, on Sunday marched in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi to express solidarity with the Palestinians and demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The march, organized by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) religious party, was attended by members of the civil society, professionals and a large number of families.
The participants carried placards and banners, and chanted slogans against Israel as they marched along Karachi’s Seaview beach.
“Palestinians have been facing a bloodshed, genocide, bombardment, death and hunger for the past 450 days,” JI Karachi Ameer Monem Zafar said, calling for a cessation of Israeli military actions.
“The tragedy that unfolded in Gaza has divided the world into two poles: the people of conscience and the followers of might.”
Israel began pounding Gaza since October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas that resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, according to official Israeli figures. Israeli attacks on Gaza have since killed 46,537 people, the majority civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters.”
The South Asian country has dispatched several relief consignments for Gaza, besides establishing the ‘Prime Minister’s Relief Fund’ that aims to collect public donations for the war-affected people.
Zafar hailed the people of Karachi for their show of solidarity with the Palestinians, urging them to continue boycotting Israeli products.
“It’s an obligation for the [Pakistani] nation to take side with the oppressed Palestinians,” he added.
During the march, the participants chanted slogans against continuing Israeli military actions in Gaza and urged the world to ensure a ceasefire in the territory.
Former provincial health minister of Sindh, Saad Khalid Niaz, criticized Israel for bombing hospitals and schools in Gaza.
“For the first time in the history, hospitals were bombed to ashes in a conflict,” he said, adding that expressing solidarity with the Palestinians has become a national obligation.