The PTI has demanded that Imran should be released from jail. A video posted by the party on X showed lawyers chanting “riha karo [release him]” outside the IHC. PTI’s Barrister Ali Zafar said: “The high court has fulfilled the requirements of justice. I’ll tell you why: Aside from the merits of the Toshakhana case — which are baseless — the trial judge did not allow Imran to submit witnesses in his defence. “If witnesses in one’s defence are not allowed, there is no greater [example of a] mistrial.” He further clarified that for now only the sentence has been suspended. PTI lawyer Shoaib Shaheen, while talking to media outside the IHC, said Imran should be provided compensation for the number of days he was kept behind bars. According to PTI Information Secretary Raoof Hasan, Imran’s arrest in any other case after the suspension of his sentence in the Toshakhana case would be “ill-intentioned and mala fide”. “We are fortunate to be witnessing the re-scripting of Pakistan’s political and legal history,” he said, adding that “justice shall prevail”. Khan ally and former Speaker of National Assembly Asad Qaiser has said verdict in the graft case was evidence Khan’s sentence and imprisonment was carried out in “haste”. “If an attempt is made to arrest Chairman Imran Khan in other cases after his release, it will be an attempt to push the country towards anarchy. At this time, the only way to save the country from further crises is to have clean and transparent elections as soon as possible,” Qaiser posted on social media platform X.
The Official Secrets Act, under which Khan is being convicted in the missing cypher case, has “no legal standing” according to the PTI chairman’s aide Zulfi Bukhari. “It is absurd that the Official Secrets Act is being forced without any legal standing whatsoever,” Bukhari wrote in a post on X.
