Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was given relief today by the Islamabad High Court as his sentence was suspended in the Toshakhana case, but the former prime minister was not released from the jail because he had already been arrested in another, more damning case i.e. the cipher case.
Commenting on the developments while talking on Naya Daur TV’s flagship programme ‘Khabar Say Aagay (Beyond The Headlines)’, columnist and development professional Zaigham Khan said that Islamabad High Court’s decision will have no bearing on the merits of Toshakhana case.
He added that when Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court, Imran Khan and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) were together in getting him disqualified from leading his party. They moved court to get him removed from his party position and got the Supreme Court to make a law that will now also be used against Imran Khan.
Zaigham Khan also opined that the cipher case, under which Imran Khan had been arrested on Tuesday, was going to become a bigger problem for him.
Senior analyst Sajjad Anwar said that the real problem was Pakistani political parties’ tendency to side with the establishment against each other.
“Establishment always picks on one political party while all the other parties lend their support to them. Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz and Pakistan People’s Party are falling over each other to win over the establishment to their side,” Sajjad Anwar said.
On Imran Khan’s re-arrest, Anwar said that the former premier will remain in Attock Jail for as long as the GHQ would want him to remain in there.
Responding to a question regarding former Chief Minister Pervez Khattak’s statement that May 9 was planned and special teams were formed to attack military installations, Sajjad Anwar said that no action had been taken against the perpetrators of the May 9 attacks.
“If the sole purpose of the entire exercise was to target one man, I believe this is unfortunate. Imran Khan will clean sweep the elections in Punjab if held tomorrow and the reason is not Imran Khan’s performance or his rhetoric. It is only because of Rawalpindi’s policies that have made the military extremely unpopular in the most populous province of the country,” he added.