Heavy police deployment in Rawalpindi after Imran Khan calls for protests against 17-yr jail term

Islamabad, Dec 21 (PTI) More than 1,300 police officers and security personnel were deployed across Rawalpindi on Saturday to maintain law and order after former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan urged his supporters to launch countrywide demonstrations against his 17-year jail term in a corruption case.

Khan, 73, and his wife Bushra Bibi were sentenced to 17 years each in jail by a court on Saturday in the Toshakhana 2 corruption case.

Khan, who has been in jail since August 2023, faces multiple cases since his ouster from power in April 2022.

According to a statement posted on Khan’s X account early Sunday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder, in a conversation with his lawyers at Adiala Jail after what he termed a “military-style trial decision,” urged his supporters to stand up in protest.

It was not known who posted the message on his personal account, as Khan has no access to his social media handles while in jail. The post also did not specify when the protests would be launched.

The Express Tribune reported, quoting officials, that the deployment included two superintendents of police, seven deputy superintendents of police, 29 inspectors and station house officers, 92 upper subordinates and 340 constables.

In addition, seven sections of Elite Force commandos, 22 Rapid Emergency and Security Operations personnel, and 400 members of the Anti-Riots Management Wing have been deployed.

Police also established 32 pickets at key locations, each supervised by an upper subordinate, while Elite Force commandos are conducting patrols. Personnel have been equipped with anti-riot gear, including rubber bullets and tear gas launchers.

In the post on X, Khan said: “I have sent a message to (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister) Sohail Afridi to prepare for the street movement. The entire nation will have to rise for its rights.” The Toshakhana 2 case involves alleged fraud in state gifts that the former first couple received from the Saudi government in 2021.

Khan said the latest sentence did not come as a surprise and asked his legal team to move the high court against the decision.

“Like the baseless decisions and sentences of the last three years, the Toshakhana-II decision is also nothing new to me. This decision was given in haste by the judge without any evidence and without fulfilling the legal requirements,” he said, claiming that his legal team was “not even heard”.

He also targeted the army’s leadership for his detention, but in the same vein said that the “army is mine”, showing his effort to win its support while attacking the top leadership of the armed forces.

Khan also alleged that he and his wife were being “continuously subjected to mental torture by keeping us in solitary confinement.” “There is a ban on our books, TV, and meetings. Every prisoner in jail can watch TV, but even watching TV has been banned for me and Bibi Bushra,” he alleged.

The Toshakhana is a department under the Cabinet Division that stores gifts given to rulers and government officials by heads of other governments and foreign dignitaries. Once deposited, the gifts can be bought back following proper rules and procedures.

Meanwhile, apart from PTI, the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami also announced protests in Punjab on Sunday against the 'Black Local Government Act 2025,' prompting the government to deploy police.

“Local governance must belong to the people — not to bureaucratic control and political elites. From Lahore to Faisalabad, Multan to Rawalpindi, the message is one: Reject the Black Law. Restore Local Democracy,” the party said in a post on X.

However, no major disturbance was reported due to the protest in Rawalpindi or elsewhere in the province. PTI SH AMS NPK SCY SCY