State dept says it's up to Pakistani courts to decide Imran Khan's cases

WASHINGTON: In response to a question regarding Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan's incarceration, US Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller Monday said it was something that Pakistani courts had to decide and not the United States.

"It is our position that when you come to these laws in Pakistan and this court case, it is something for the Pakistani courts to decide," said the US official while giving his country’s position about the sub judice matters.

Miller said this to a query posed by a reporter after Khan’s acquittal in cipher case and remaining jailed in the un-Islamic marriage case.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday annulled Khan and PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s conviction in the infamous cipher case containing charges of misusing and misplacing the classified diplomatic document.

Meanwhile, Khan remains incarcerated under the seven-year sentences handed to him and his wife Bushra Bibi by a trial court on February 3, in the "un-Islamic nikah" case at the Adiala jail. The couple was also fined Rs500,000 each.

A trial court on February 3 handed seven-year sentences, each, to the PTI founder and his wife Bushra Bibi.

Further describing the State Department’s perspective, the spokesperson said, "When we look at different countries, we take into account appropriate context, circumstances in making our judgments."

Miller said US had numerous times addressed the question regarding Khan. 

“The legal proceedings against him are something for the Pakistani courts to decide (and) I’d say in accordance with their laws and constitution,” he stressed again.