Pakistan court indicts Ex-PM Imran Khan in Toshakhana case

A Pakistan court on Wednesday indicted former Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case on charges of illegally selling state gifts during his premiership between 2018-22, broadcaster Geo News reported.

The indictment came a day after Imran Khan was arrested by the country’s paramilitary force on the orders of an anti-graft agency in another corruption case.

The embattled cricketer-turned-politician has been in the dock for buying gifts he received as Pakistan’s prime minister at a discounted price from the state depository called Toshakhana and selling them for profit.

Established in 1974, the Toshakhana is a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division and stores precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials by heads of other governments and states and foreign dignitaries.

Khan was present in an Islamabad district and sessions court where judge Humayun Dilawar conducted the hearing.

Pakistan’s GEO television broadcast footage also showed Khan appearing before a judge at a temporary court inside a police compound on Wednesday in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case. The former premier was seen seated in a chair, holding documents. The judge is expected to rule on the request for a 14-day detention later in the day.

Khan’s arrest resulted in violent protests in several cities and attacks on military installations, forcing the government to deploy Army troops in parts of Pakistan’s Punjab.