Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister
Imran Khan will contest the upcoming general elections from at least three
constituencies, his party announced on Wednesday.
On August 5, the 71-year-old former
cricketer-turned politician was convicted by a trial court in Islamabad in the
Toshakahana corruption case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan.
The verdict meant he was disqualified
from contesting elections for five years. However, days later the Islamabad
High Court suspended his three-year sentence but he still remains in jail in
other cases.
“Imran Khan sahib wants to inform that
he will be contesting elections from at least three constituencies of Pakistan,”
Barrister Ali Zafar told the media outside Adiala Jail.
He said the IHC was set to release its
verdict on Khan’s petition challenging conviction in the Toshakhana case, Dawn
newspaper reported.
“We hope that the judgment will soon be
announced because the (election) schedule has been released,” he said.
Zafar said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or
PTI party workers had been given directions to file their nomination papers.
“As long as the PTI candidates are
concerned, our workers in jail, who have rendered sacrifices for the party in
this difficult time, would be 100 per cent allotted tickets on a priority
basis,” he said.
“The rest of the candidates have also
been finalised and their names will be announced soon,” Zafar added.
He added stopping party workers from
filing nomination papers was an “undemocratic exercise” and would jeopardise
free and fair elections.
Meanwhile, the party Chairman Gohar Khan
said the PTI wanted elections to be held on February 8 at any cost.
“Today, we were very upset at what Shah
[Mehmood Qureshi] sahib told us,” he noted, claiming that the PTI vice chairman’s
nomination papers had been “snatched” from Qureshi’s secretary.
“Snatching nomination papers from people
on the street would make these elections a shame,” he said.
Gohar added that Imran Khan would be
provided with his nomination papers tomorrow, vowing that “Khan sahib will
contest these polls, God willing”.
Gohar said he too would participate in
the upcoming polls from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Buner.
PTI
