Pakistan‘s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that the evidence against jailed former prime minister Imran Khan points towards a military trial in the cases concerning the violence on May 9 last year, a media report said on Sunday.
Speaking to a private news channel on Saturday, Asif said that military trials had taken place before and will continue to do so in future as well, Geo News reported.
“Evidence against founder Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party founder (Imran Khan) points towards military trial,” Asif said.
His remarks come after 71-year-old Khan – fearing a military trial over his alleged involvement in the May 9 riots – filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to stop his potential trial in military courts.
However, the IHC registrar’s office raised objections over Khan’s plea, saying that neither it mentioned any specific first information report (FIR) nor any documentation or order was attached to the petition and how a petition be filed in a high court while the matter of military trials is sub judice in the Supreme Court.
It is not the first time that the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) expressed such a possibility. Several leaders of the party have accused Khan of orchestrating the May 9, 2023 violence.
On September 2, Asif had said that a military trial of Khan was “possible”.