Toshakhana arrest

Former prime minister Imran Khan had been talking about being arrested ever since May, when he was arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case. On Saturday, a district and sessions court in Islamabad convicted the PTI chairman for corrupt practices related to the Toshakhana. The case related to allegations that Imran had misused his office to buy and sell gifts received in visits abroad said to be worth more than Rs140 million. The trial court has now sentenced the former prime minister to a three-year imprisonment, saying the former PM had “cheated while providing information about gifts he obtained from [the] Toshakhana”; he also potentially stands disqualified from contesting elections. The PTI has decried the verdict, called it a “murder of justice”, announced country-wide protests, and will be appealing the judgment. An obviously gleeful government has dismissed all talk of there being a political agenda behind the arrest.

The Toshakhana case has been a serious thorn in Imran’s side. While other strong cases like the Al-Qadir Trust case, foreign funding etc are still pending, the Toshakhana case was seen to be the most straightforward one in which he could be convicted. In October last year, the ECP had said that Imran had made false statements and “incorrect declarations” regarding Toshakhana; the commision had thus disqualified him under Article 63(1)(p) of the constitution and moved the courts for criminal proceedings against the former PM. The reasoning behind the insistence on keeping things above and beyond any suspicion is that gifts in the state repository – the Toshakhana, as it were – are to be retained by government officials only if their value is not extensive, and if it is they pay a reduced fee to ‘buy’ them. Imran had apparently purchased these gifts at extremely low prices and then resold them at exorbitant prices. A keen business decision, no doubt – but not one in keeping with the office of the PM per the ECP and the sessions court since this was not declared by the PTI chairman. Obtaining gifts from the Toshakhana through legal means was not the issue here or even selling them but that Imran did not declare them as a parliamentarian has been seen as grounds for disqualification.

Saturday’s verdict has drawn mixed reactions from analysts and legal experts both. The fact that Imran was not present in court on Saturday has been seen by some as reason enough to have waited on the verdict, with some analysts saying that while the accusations may carry weight, the way the case was handled by the court raised concerns. There is little debate over his right to appeal this matter, and per some observers, he is likely to get relief too. However, the fact that the verdict was announced in his absence does not invalidate the verdict in itself. For many, the Toshakhana case was an open and shut case, with legal experts reiterating that at the heart of the matter was the fact not that he had obtained and then resold gifts from the Toshakhana but that he did not declare them as a parliamentarian, which is grounds for his conviction and disqualification. With the Toshakhana case now on its way to some sense of closure – regardless of the appeals process – and with many more cases still looming, and with a conviction that essentially means that apart from his prison sentence Imran will also no longer be allowed to contest elections for at least five years and will not be chairman of his part, is this the end of Project Imran and Project PTI both? Per political analysts, it is likely that without Imran as chairman of the PTI, the party too will be in disarray and there may be another phase of dismantling waiting to happen. However, regardless of the legal technicalities and procedure involved, there seems to have been a rewriting of the ‘one page’ formula – the page this time reading out Imran’s swan song. There is little to celebrate here – much like there was little to celebrate the nth times this happened to prime ministers in the past.