United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wants to see PTI founder Imran Khan’s current situation “evolve in a much more positive way”, said his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric in a press conference in New York on Wednesday. According to a press release posted the UN website, a journalist asked the spokesperson that “the UN Group on Arbitrary Detention issued unanimously a recommendation to release Imran Khan, the former Pakistani prime minister, with no conditions. Does the SG [secretary general] support this recommendation?” “It’s a recommendation from an independent panel. We want to see the current political situation, the current situation of Mr. Khan, evolve in a much more positive way,” replied Dujarric. Former prime minister Imran has been serving jail term in various cases registered against him.

He was sentenced in an irregular marriage case on February 3, five days before general elections, and serving his term at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. His sentences in two Toshakhana cases against him were suspended while the Islamabad High Court acquitted him in the cipher case. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention — which has the mandate to investigate cases of deprivation of liberty by governments — had on Monday said the cases against Imran were “without legal basis” and politically motivated to exclude him from the political arena. The panel said that the appropriate remedy would be to release and compensate him. This was the second disapproval at the international level of the government’s action against the PTI founder within a week after the passage of a US resolution on June 25 calling upon Pakistan government to thoroughly probe the allegation of irregularities in the February 8 elections. Pakistan, however, rejected the resolution calling it interference in its internal affairs.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan