Both Bushra Bibi (left) and her husband Imran Khan are accused of allegedly selling gifts worth more than US$506,000 that Khan received during his premiership. - AFP
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court indicted jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday (Dec 5) on charges of inciting his supporters to attack the country's military and its installations in 2023, Geo TV reported.
Khan pleaded not guilty to the charges while the court also indicted more than 60 others in the same case, Geo TV and ARY News reported.
Thousands of supporters of Khan had attacked and torched several military buildings and offices on May 9 last year to protest against his arrest on graft allegations.
At least eight people were killed in the violence.
Khan faces anti-terrorism charges in connection with the violence, considered the most serious challenge to the power of the military in Pakistan's history. Several of Khan's supporters have already been sentenced in connection with the violence.
The 72-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has been named in dozens of cases since he left office in 2022 and has been behind bars for more than a year.
Meanwhile, the court on Thursday also issued an arrest warrant for Khan's wife, Bushra Bibi, in a graft case, local TV ARY News said, a move that could lead to her rearrest two months after she was freed from jail on bail.
Bushra Khan, known more commonly as Bushra Bibi, a term that denotes respect, was released from prison in October after being detained for nine months over an ongoing case involving the illegal sale of state gifts during her husband's tenure in office from 2018 to 2022.
Both she and Khan, who is currently imprisoned pending other trials, are accused of allegedly selling gifts worth more than 140 million rupees (US$506,000) that Khan received during his premiership and which belonged in state possession. They both deny the charges.
Bibi, 50, who mobilised thousands of supporters from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to demand his release during massive protests last month, was forced to escape to the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is ruled by the party, after a paramilitary force broke up the rally in Islamabad.
The court in Islamabad issued a fresh warrant in her name in the same case on Thursday, ARY News reported, potentially allowing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Pakistan's anti-graft agency, which enjoys jurisdiction across the country, to arrest her. - Reuters
