ISLAMABAD The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) declared on Sunday that it would appeal the ruling in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case in the high court tomorrow (Tuesday). PTI leader Salman Akram Raja claimed that the current government had misunderstood the funds and that they should have been transferred to property tycoon Malik Riaz’s account rather than being returned to the government.
The party also agreed to carry on discussions with the government and other authorities at various levels.
Speaking at a press conference at KP House, Mr. Raja disclosed that nine of Malik Riaz’s family’s accounts had been confiscated due to questionable activities in the UK, including one involving Hasan Nawaz, the son of PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif.
However, the Supreme Court ruled that the property tycoon was had to pay Rs460 billion to the Malir Development Authority (MDA) in response to a claim that 16,000 acres of land had been granted to Malik Riaz.
According to him, UK officials subsequently made the decision to deliver the money to the Supreme Court and ordered the Malik Riaz family to depart the country.
He asserted that in light of the Supreme Court’s decision, the UK authorities simply ordered the family to leave the country, finding no criminal activity in it.
According to a bilateral arrangement between Ali Malik and the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), the money would be sent to the Supreme Court’s account. The NCA’s news statement contained a clause stating that the money will be sent back to the Pakistani government.
Claims that the money had to be sent back to the state were completely false, he said; instead, the money had to be deposited into the Supreme Court’s account.
The federal cabinet gave its consent in sealed envelopes because the NCA asked that the deal not be made public. Since Malik Riaz received the Sindh land for free, the state must receive the funds via the Supreme Court.
The sum was placed in the foreign reserve account, and the Supreme Court’s account received the corresponding sum of Rs34 billion. In the meantime, he continued, Malik Riaz also deposited the money that the Supreme Court had ordered to be sent to the federal government’s accounts (Rs 50 billion) and the Sindh government’s (Rs 44 billion).
According to the ruling, the land was first given to Zulfikar Bukhari and subsequently to Imran Khan, he added.
The reason for this was that land was transferred in the names of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi after the trust was created, which had not yet been done. “It is a fact that ‘controversial judges’ are being appointed, even though we will contest it in a few days,” he claimed.
Bushra Bibi’s imprisonment for simply having her name on the list of trustees was deemed unacceptable by Mr. Raja.
He stated that PTI would keep having discussions at all levels since the party wished to stay involved in national politics, without identifying the establishment.
In response to inquiries, Mr. Raja asserted that judges were being pressured.
Kanwal Shauzab, the leader of the PTI, also criticized Bushra Bibi’s incarceration, claiming that the government singled her out in order to put pressure on Imran Khan.
“The reality is that Imran Khan cannot be subjected to mental torture by the Form-47 government, which is why Bushra Bibi went to jail and turned herself in,” she stated.
Challenge
On Tuesday, the PTI is prepared to contest the Al-Qadir Trust issue in the high court.
In a statement, PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqqas Akram stated that the party would appeal to the high court as soon as possible in an effort to overturn the controversial decision and address the flagrant injustice.
Because the ruling was a “blatant travesty of justice, driven by political motivations and fabricated charges,” he said he was confident that Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s names would be cleared in the initial hearing.
Since the ruling was a serious injustice and a disgrace to Pakistan’s legal system, Mr. Akram remained optimistic that the court would order Mr. Khan’s immediate release.
He emphasized that Imran Khan stubbornly refused to surrender his values and chose to defend his more than 200 lawsuits in the courts despite having done nothing wrong.
Because he believed in the supremacy of the Constitution, the rule of law, and democracy, he swore that the PTI founder would try to clean his name through the legal system rather than turning to shady transactions.
The PTI leader promised that, like in the past, “power usurpers’ arm-twisting tactics” will eventually fail.
In addition to forming a strong judicial panel made up of senior Supreme Court judges to look into the May 9 and November 26 occurrences, he emphasized that it would be preferable to acknowledge the situation on the ground and promptly free all political detainees, including Imran Khan and his wife.