Pakistan Crisis: Won’t join graft probe

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan, who is facing corruption charges, said yesterday he would not join an investigation by the powerful anti-graft agency while he was out on bail.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which has in the past investigated, put on trial and jailed all those who have served as prime minister since 2008, had earlier summoned Khan for investigation into the graft charges, a spokesman said.

Khan was arrested on the charges, which he denies, on May 9 and later set free on court-ordered bail that was extended to May 31.

In a statement addressed to the NAB's deputy director, and shown to Reuters by one of Khan's lawyers, the former prime minister called the allegations against him "absolutely false, frivolous and concocted".

He said he was in the process of applying for, and obtaining, bail in a number of other legal cases and would not be available before his protective bail expired on May 22.

On Wednesday, Khan said that police had surrounded his house in Lahore, in Punjab province, and that he expected to be re-arrested soon, after the government warned him to hand over supporters who it blamed for attacks on the army, reports Reuters.

Punjab's Information Minister Amir Mir said the government did not have any plans to arrest Khan as he had been given bail by court. "All we want him to hand over the terrorists hiding at his home," he said.

Khan has said authorities could search his home but only with legal warrants from a court, and has denied sheltering anyone involved in the violence.

Yesterday, Khan's aide Iftikhr Durrani allowed journalists into some areas of Khan's Zaman Park residence to "look for terrorists".

Speaking to Deutsche Welle in his first interview since the lapse of the Punjab government's 24-hour deadline for his party to hand over "terrorists" allegedly taking refuge at his house, Khan said police were still surrounding his residence but not in as large a number as Wednesday's night.

He reiterated that he expects to be re-arrested, saying "it could happen any time". The Punjab police claimed to have arrested eight persons who tried to flee Khan's residence, reports Dawn online.

While talking to journalists at his residence, Khan said: "There is a plan formed to pit the PTI against the army … their plan is to eliminate the PTI through the army,"

"The PDM is behind this and it is very dangerous for the country," he said.