• PTI to challenge guilty ruling in high court, as ex-PM says ‘not surprised’
• Asad says left with no option but ‘resistance’; Raja insists verdict not based on evidence

ISLAMABAD: As a court sentenced him to jail in the Toshakhana-II case, former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday issued a call for a nationwide protest besides announcing his intention to challenge the verdict in the Islamabad High Court.

The PTI chief does not have access to his social media handles in jail.

“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,” he said as per the account of the conversation between the PTI leader and his lawyer posted on X.

He said his sentence in this case did not come as a surprise, but he had 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, adding that his legal team was “not even heard”.

The PTI chief said it was inevitable for the Insaf Lawyers Forum and the legal community to “come to the front foot” for the supremacy of law and the restoration of the Constitution. He said that without justice, economic development was not possible.

‘Political revenge’

The PTI, in a statement, called the sentence “blatantly unconstitutional, illegal, malicious and the worst form of political revenge and a textbook case of victimisation”.

The PTI leaders alleged that the conviction was merely an attempt to extend the incarceration of Imran Khan and provide temporary relief to a “petrified ruling clique”. They stated that the rule of law had been buried in Pakistan, with political revenge being systematically carried out through a “subservient” judiciary.

Addressing a press conference alongside PTI senior leader Asad Qaiser, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja stated that the PTI founder had a meeting with his lead counsel, Barrister Salman Safdar, in the courtroom and conveyed a message to the nation. He made his position absolutely clear, stating, “I am standing firm and resolute and will not seek an apology from anyone, come what may.”

Salman Raja alleged that the case was based solely on promissory notes and lacked credible evidence. “They have no witnesses except the person whom the PTI founder himself brought forward,” he said.

Mr Raja described the case as absurd and based on the weakest possible testimony. “A person stands up and says pressure was exerted on him, and you accept that as evidence,” he added, in an apparent reference to a witness statement in the case.

Mr Qaiser stated that the current circumstances leave no option other than resistance. He emphasised that the resistance would be peaceful, democratic, and grounded in constitutional principles. He further asserted that PTI was seeking justice for its founder and would continue its struggle until it was served.

PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram stated that even Imran Khan’s family was not allowed inside the jail, where a “kangaroo” court announced the verdict. The sentence was the second for the same charge, which was a clear violation of the Constitution, criminal law and the international principle of double jeopardy, he said.

‘Pre-written script’

Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan, while speaking to the media, criticised the verdict and alleged that decisions against him were being delivered under a “pre-written script”.

Ms Khan claimed that those behind the cases were “not intelligent people” and that she failed to understand their scripts.

“Even at night, I felt they wanted to announce the verdict quickly, taking advantage of the foggy weather,” she remarked, questioning the logic behind the timing of the decision. “What difference does it make whether you sentence them to 10 years or 14 years? Earlier, you already gave them 14 years,” she said.

“Our patience and the patience of the people has run out,” she said, adding that the alleged plan was to announce a new decision every six months. “The people of Pakistan will not allow this to happen anymore,” she warned.

According to Ms Khan, the PTI founder’s family had been expecting such a verdict for the past two months. She also questioned the legality of the treatment being meted out to Bushra Bibi, asking why she had been kept in “illegal solitary confinement”.

Separately, PTI leader Omar Ayub also condemned the judgement. In a post on X, he said that the sentences awarded to the former premier and his wife were those of a “kangaroo court”.

“There is no rule of law in Pakistan,” Mr Ayub added.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2025