Al-Qadir Trust Case that Let Open Ex-Pak PM Khan’s Can of Worms
Al-Qadir Trust Case that Let Open Ex-Pak PM Khan’s Can of Worms By Girish Linganna THE PAKISTANI SUPREME COURT, on Thursday (May 12, 2023), ruled that the country’s former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, arrest on corruption charges earlier this week was illegal and that Khan be released immediately. On Tuesday (May 9), former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was taken into custody at Islamabad High Court, in a wildcat operation that saw paramilitary troops and officers smash their way into the courthouse.
The topmost Pak court also ordered the country’s anti-corruption agency, NAB, to produce Khan within an hour even as it observed that the agency was in “contempt of court” when it entered the court premises and arrested him without the court registrar’s permission.
The Opposition leader, who was unseated in a no-confidence vote in April 2022, was brought to the court on the orders of Pakistan’s top judge, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, who told Khan, “Your arrest was invalid, so the whole process needs to be backtracked.” The cricket star-turned-politician told the judges he was “kidnapped” from the High Court premises on Tuesday and “beaten up with sticks”. The security forces did not immediately react to the allegations.
Babar Awan, head of Khan’s team of lawyers, said that, although Khan has been freed from custody, he would be under the protection of the security forces in a safe, undisclosed location in capital Islamabad. He will again make an appearance before Islamabad High Court on Friday (May 12, 2023).
CHARGES AGAINST IMRAN KHAN
There are multiple corruption charges against Khan, including illegally acquiring land to construct Al-Qadir University—a university under construction at present in Sohawa, Pakistan, near Islamabad. The project is part of the Al-Qadir University Project Trust.
In a separate case, Khan was indicted for unlawfully selling gifts sent to him by foreign heads of state while holding office.
Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, and their close friends, Zulfiqar Bukhari and Babar Awan, who made the Al-Qadir Project Trust, are all involved in the Al-Qadir Trust Case. The trust was set up so that the Al-Qadir University could be built in Sohawa tehsil in Jhelum district of Punjab. The goal of the university was to provide quality education and producing morally upright and intellectually vibrant leaders of the Muslim Umma.
AL-QADIR TRUST CASE (Timeline)
May 15, 2019
- The Al-Qadir University is announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
- The Al-Qadir University for Sufism, Science, and Technology to be built in Sohawa, Jhelum, Khan says. If a “philosophy dies, the country dies with it”, Khan says and adds that the country is supposed to be built on the same idea.
December 2, 2019
- The case of a real estate tycoon Malik Riaz and his family is taken up by Khan’s Cabinet.
- In December 2018, shortly after the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) comes to power, the first investigation report by the National Crime Agency (NCA)—a national law-enforcement agency in the UK—into Riaz’s property and assets in the UK surfaces.
- Accounts Freezing Orders (AFOs) and Repatriation of Funds to Pakistan by NCA, England, in the Real Estate Tycoon Malik Riaz & Family case are discussed by Khan’s government.
December 3, 2019
- NCA, England, concludes investigations on CEO of Private Housing Society, Malik Riaz, and nearly 140 million pounds are deposited into the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s (SCP’s) account at the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).
- NCA, England, closes its investigation of Riaz, and approximately 140 million pounds are repatriated to Pakistan from the business magnate’s overseas account, but the funds end up in the SC’s account at the NBP.
- As the owner of the private housing society has consented to pay Rs 460 billion to the SCP, it is unclear if the funds were to be transferred to a government account or deposited in an SC account.
- Riaz’s real estate company, Bahria Town Ltd, is discovered to have illegally acquired tens of thousands of acres of land on the outskirts of Karachi’s Malir district. SCP accepts Riaz’s settlement offer as a fine of Rs 460 billion earlier that year for this illegal occupancy.
- Riaz tweets hours after the NCA verdict that the recovered amount will be presented to the Supreme Court against the fine worth Rs 460 billion imposed.
December 26, 2019
- Imran Khan registers trust for the Al-Qadir University Project and the Private Housing Society of Riaz agrees to cover all costs.
- Khan registers the Al-Qadir University Project Trust within a few weeks of his Cabinet’s decision regarding Riaz’s Private Housing Society, which later became the university’s donor.
- Private Housing Society also confirms in the agreement that it will cover all costs associated with the establishment and operation of the proposed Al-Qadir University and contribute funds to the trust for the establishment and operation of the Al-Qadir Project.
January 2020
- In the month following the registration of the trust deed at the Islamabad sub-registrar’s office, Private Housing Society acquires approximately 460 kanals (worth Rs 243 million) of land in Jhelum and transfers it to Zulfi Abbas Bukhari.
July 2020-June 2021
- From July 2020 to June 2021, the trust’s total income is Rs 101 million and its total expenditure, including staff and workers’ salaries, is approximately Rs 8.58 million.
April 22, 2020
- In a letter to the joint sub-registrar of Islamabad, Imran Khan, who serves as the head of the AlQadir Trust, informs him that Zulfiqar Bukhari and Zaheer-ud-Din Babar Awan have been removed from the trust. The office of the trust is moved to Khan’s Banigala House with amendment of the trust deed. While Imran Khan is Prime Minister, the letter and the modified Trust Deed are signed and delivered to the joint sub-registrar in Islamabad.
January 22, 2021
- Bukhari transfers this land under the trust’s name when the trust is established. The land that Bukhari, as Al-Qadir’s guardian, obtained from the Private Housing Society measures 458 kanals, 4 marla, and 58 square feet. It is located in Mouza Bakrala, Tehsil Sohawa, in Jhelum district.
March 24, 2021
- An agreement between Bushra Bibi and Private Housing Society is signed at Imran Khan’s home while Khan is in charge of the PMO. This gift of land, as well as donations of infrastructure and other things, are acknowledged.
November 29, 2021
- The academic blocks of Al-Qadir University are inaugurated by PM Khan. Al-Qadir University initially has a capacity for 500 students, to be further extended in stages.
- According to Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, the university will give the social sciences a new dimension. He expresses optimism that it will become a world-class institution where Sufi, Islamic and scientific scholars will be educated.
January 2021-December 2021
- 180 million rupees in donations are made to the Al-Qadir Trust between January 2021 and December 2021.
February 17, 2022
- The Government of Punjab’s Charity Commission registers Al-Qadir Project Trust, GT Road, Sohawa, Bakrala, and Jhelum as charities.
June 14, 2022
- Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah says former PM Imran Khan and wife Bushra Bibi has taken Rs 5 billion and hundreds of kanals of land from Private Housing Society in exchange for “protecting” the real estate company during the PTI government in a case of money-laundering.
- The Interior Minister says the case does not stop here. Private Housing Society signs a deal and gives a 458-kanal plot of land worth Rs 530 million to a trust owned by Khan and his wife.
- Sanaullah said the land is given to Al-Qadir Trust by Private Housing Society. The deal was signed by donors to the real estate developer and Bushra Khan.
- The only directors of the non-profit group are Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi.
- The minister says another 240 kanals were given to a close friend of Bushra Bibi, named Farah Shehzadi, or ‘Fah’.
December 1, 2022
- The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) calls the owner of Private Housing Society and other people who got money from a settlement worth 190 million pounds (Rs 50 billion) during the PTI government.
- The NAB is also looking into why Private Housing Society gave 458 acres of land in the Jhelum area to Al-Qadir Trust University.
March 2, 2022
- In the office of the sub-clerk, Sohawa, a trust deed, called ‘Endowment Fund for Al-Qadir Institute’ is signed.
- The trustees in this deed are named ‘Bushra Khan, Farhat Shehzadi and Dr Arif Nazeer Butt. Imran Khan is the person who writes it.
- In addition, Al-Qadir University Trust Project lists itself as a university on its website—alqadir.edu.pk—despite the fact that it is a college. Since March 17, 2022, their request for charter for degree-awarding status has been pending with the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC).
- Despite being registered as a non-profit organization, the institute charges its students tuition fees. According to the terms of their agreement, a wealthy industrialist covers all of Al-Qadir Trust’s expenses.
- According to Dr Arif Nazir Butt, one of the institute’s trustees, the PHEC has not yet granted AlQadir Institute degree-awarding status. Al-Qadir Institute is still affiliated with Government College University and only offers two programmes—Management Sciences and Islamic Studies.
(The author of this article is a Defence, Aerospace & Political analyst)
By Girish Linganna
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Delhi: Boy stabbed to death over 'controversial' social media comments, 2 juveniles held
New Delhi (PTI): A 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death at Ramleela ground in northwest Delhi for allegedly making social media comments that police described as "controversial", an official said on Wednesday.
According to the police, the assailants, also minors, attacked him with a knife, inflicting multiple stab wounds.
"A PCR call was received in the Shalimar Bagh Police Station regarding an injured boy lying in Ramleela ground. The police team reached the spot and found him with multiple stab wounds," a police officer said.
He was working as a labourer in a banquet hall for the last two days, the officer said. An FIR was registered and the police apprehended two juveniles in the case.
Preliminary investigation reveals that the deceased was stabbed due to an ongoing enmity, the officer said.
During questioning, the accused told the police that the victim had made "controversial comments" against them on social media. Following which, they intercepted him at Ramleela ground and stabbed him. He died on the spot, officer said.
"We have recovered a dagger and the victim's mobile phone. Further investigation in the case is underway," he added.
