Pakistan: Accountability court defers indictment of Imran Khan, wife in Al-Qadir Trust case

Islamabad [Pakistan], January 25 : An Accountability Court on Thursday deferred the indictment of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in Al-Qadir Trust case, Dawn reported.
The court adjourned the hearing till January 31. While hearing the case at Adiala Jail, the Accountability Court judge, Muhammad Bashir, postponed the framing of the charge against Khan and his wife in the Al-Qadir Trust case after Bushra Bibi did not attend today's proceedings.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) deputy prosecutor general, Sardar Muzzafar Abbasi, prosecutor Amjad Perviz, and Irfan Bola appeared before the court, according to ARY News
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had started an investigation against Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi and others for the alleged gain of hundreds of canals of land in the name of Al Qadir University Trust, which reportedly caused a loss of 190 million pounds to the national exchequer.
According to the charges, Imran Khan and others accused allegedly adjusted 190 million pounds sent by UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) to the government. Notably, PTI founder lodged Trust for Al-Qadir University Project on December 2019.
On Tuesday, Imran Khan has questioned the transparency of the elections set to be conducted on February 8 and added that the 'preferential treatment' meted out to a single political party had turned these polls into the 'mother of all selections', Pakistan-based Dawn reported.
He asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) members to engage in electioneering with full force. Imran Khan made these remarks during his routine interaction with reporters after the hearing of the cypher case being held at Adiala Jail. However, his interaction was abruptly ended after the jail superintendent, Asad Warraich, asked Khan not to speak to reporters in the makeshift courtroom.
In response, Khan said that it was his right to speak to reporters. However, Warraich reminded him that journalists were only allowed to cover the case proceedings, not highlight his political statements. At this, Imran Khan said he would only speak about his trial. The jail superintendent asked him to get permission from the judge if he wanted to speak to media persons.
Eventually, DIG Prisons Rana Rauf reached the courtroom and asked journalists to leave the premises as the proceedings had already been concluded. The prison staff escorted the media persons out of the court premises while Khan was protesting the 'censorship,' according to Dawn report.
Khan also asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to hold a protest next Sunday. Notably, Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, Mirza Shahzad Akbar, Zulfi Bukhari, Farah Gogi, Malik Riaz and his son are facing a reference in the National Accountability Bureau since Malik Riaz sent money to purchase the property through money laundering.