UK monitoring situation in Pakistan carefully: PM Sunak

We support peaceful democratic processes and adherence to the rule of law, Sunak says

LONDON:

Britain is monitoring the situation in Pakistan carefully, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday, after the arrest of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan sparked unrest.

"The arrest of the former prime minister is an internal matter for Pakistan. We support peaceful democratic processes and adherence to the rule of law and we are monitoring the situation carefully," Sunak told lawmakers.

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested on Tuesday by an anti-graft agency on corruption charges. The government alleged that Khan and his wife received land worth millions of dollars as a bribe from a real estate tycoon, through a charitable trust.

Khan and his aides have denied any wrongdoing.

Also read: Court grants eight-day physical remand of Imran in Al-Qadir Trust case

What is the corruption case?

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told a press conference on Tuesday that the trust was a front for Khan to receive valuable land as a bribe from a real estate developer.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had summoned the tycoon late last year to submit answers on the land donated to the trust.

The trust has nearly 60 acres of land worth seven billion Pakistani rupees and another large piece of land in Islamabad close to Khan's hilltop home, the minister said.

The 60-acre parcel in Punjab state's Jhelum district is the official site of the university but very little has been built there.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb also raised questions about donations given for operations of the under-construction institution.

"The trust received 180 million rupees for operational expenses, but records showed only 8.52 million rupees" on the books, she said in a statement issued late on Tuesday night.