PTI chief remanded to NAB Custody in Al-Qadir trust case

WEB DESK: In a significant development, an accountability court in Islamabad has remanded former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman to the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for four days in the Al Qadir Trust case.

According to Dawn.com, concurrently, the pre-arrest interim bail of the PTI Chief’s wife, Bushra Bibi, has been extended in the Al Qadir Trust case and the Tosha­khana case until November 21.

The hearing began with the bail petitions of Bushra Bibi, and Judge Mohammad Bashir, upon learning that both the petitioner and her lawyer were in Adiala Jail for a meeting with the PTI Chief decided to conduct the hearing in the jail.

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Meanwhile, NAB’s deputy prosecutor general, Sardar Muzaffar Khan Abbasi, sought a 10-day physical remand for the PTI Chief, but the judge granted a four-day remand.

Outside Adiala Jail, Aleema Khan, the PTI Chief’s sister, revealed that her brother was contemplating filing a lawsuit in the United States against diplomat Donald Lu, whom he accused of toppling his government, if justice was not served in Pakistan.

She emphasised that her brother was in good health and content with the jail conditions, highlighting his routine of exercise, recitation of the Holy Quran, and reading books.

Aleema Khan criticised the charges against the PTI Chief, questioning the severity of offenses for which he faced potential death or life imprisonment. She also mentioned that the Islamabad High Court had issued a stay order in the cipher case.

In a separate development, a division bench of the Islamabad High Court dismissed an application seeking the restoration ofthe PTI Chief’s pre-arrest bail plea in a corruption case. The bench suggested approaching the competent court for post-arrest bail, considering the current custody status.