Pakistan court initiates process to declare Imran Khan's relatives as proclaimed offenders

After the former prime minister was detained in May in connection with an alleged corruption case, a Pakistani court started the process on Monday to declare Imran Khan’s two sisters and a nephew declared criminals in a case pertaining to the attack on the historic Corps Commander House here. After Khan, the party’s leader, was taken into custody by the Islamabad High Court on May 9, a mob of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters set fire to and vandalised the Corps Commander House, also known as Jinnah House, in this city. “The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Lahore initiated the process to declare former premier Imran Khan’s two sisters – Aleema Khan and Dr Uzma – and his nephew Hassan Niazi and 19 other PTI leaders proclaimed offenders after their constant skipping of the court’s hearing for their alleged involvement in attacking the Lahore Corps Commander House,” a court official told PTI after the hearing. The ATC mandated the publication of an advertising in newspapers for August 16 instructing the suspects to appear in court at the following hearing in order to avoid being labelled as proclaimed offenders. Senator Azam Swati, former ministers Murad Saeed, Ali Amin Gandapur, Farukh Habib, Mian Aslam, and Hammad Azhar are notable PTI figures who have been designated as offenders. Following Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9 in a corruption case by paramilitary Rangers, Pakistan experienced unprecedented anti-government demonstrations. Khan later received bail and was freed. During the riots, several of military facilities and government structures, including the military headquarters in Rawalpindi, were destroyed or set on fire. More than 100 police and other security agency vehicles caught fire. Over 10,000 PTI members have been detained by law enforcement authorities across Pakistan, with 4,000 of them coming from the Punjab region alone. Over 16 PTI employees were slain in the violence, according to Khan. Ten fatalities have been reported by police. Numerous accusations involving assaults on military installations are also being brought against Imran Khan. Over 150 cases involving terrorism, murder, and blasphemy are currently pending against him. At his home in Zaman Park, he is apparently effectively under house arrest. (With agency inputs)