Imran Khan fears he may be 'slow poisoned during detention'

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) incarcerated Chairman Imran Khan — who was arrested by Rangers personnel from Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the Al-Qadir Trust case a day earlier, expressed his fears on Wednesday that he might be killed in prison by slow poisoning.

During the course of proceedings held at the Islamabad Police Line, the former prime minister — who was ousted from the office in April last year — apprised the court that the authorities “give an injection that causes a person to die slowly”.

Seeking medical care from his personal physician, Dr Faisal, the PTI chairman said that he wants to avoid the treatment meted out to Maqsood Chaprasi.

Malik Maqsood Ahmad aka Maqsood Chaprasi — a key figure in the Rs16 billion money laundering case against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his family — passed away in the UAE due to cardiac arrest in June 2022. 

Expressing doubts, the PTI sought an independent investigation to ascertain the real cause of his death.

In addition to this, following an attempted assassination attack on him in November last year, the former prime minister — who was ousted from office through a no-confidence motion in April 2022 — claimed that a senior military officer, PM Shehbaz and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah were behind the attack, all of whom rejected the allegations. Khan also did not provide any evidence to the authorities so far.

At the outset of today's hearing, the former prime minister apprised the court that he was shown the arrest warrants when he was brought to the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) office by the Rangers personnel.

On Tuesday, Rangers personnel driving a black Toyota Hilux Vigo took Imran Khan away to NAB Rawalpindi from the IHC.

“The NAB is saying they want to compile the records,” Khan said, questioning which record the anti-graft watchdog requires that "I am not accepting".

The deposed premier added that all transactions were made after the approval of the cabinet. He was of the view that there are two options to bring back the money — settlement outside the court or go into the legal procedure. He added that the government had spent over Rs100 million on the legal process.

The former prime minister — along with his wife Bushra Bibi and other PTI leaders — is facing a NAB inquiry related to a settlement between the PTI government and a property tycoon, which reportedly caused a loss of 190 million pounds to the national exchequer.

As per the charges, Khan and other accused allegedly adjusted Rs50 billion — 190 million pounds at the time — sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government as part of the agreement with the property tycoon.

They are also accused of getting undue benefit in the form of over 458 kanals of land at Mouza Bakrala, Sohawa, to establish Al Qadir University.

During the PTI government, United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) seized assets worth 190 million pounds from a property tycoon in Britain.

The agency said the assets would be passed to the government of Pakistan and the settlement with the Pakistani property tycoon was “a civil matter, and does not represent a finding of guilt”.

Subsequently, then prime minister Khan get approval of the settlement with the UK crime agency from his cabinet on December 3, 2019, without disclosing the details of the confidential agreement.

It was decided that the money would be submitted to the Supreme Court on behalf of the tycoon.

Subsequently, Al-Qadir Trust was established in Islamabad a few weeks after the Imran-led government approved the agreement with the property tycoon.