Incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan on Monday refused to undergo lie detector test for the fourth time and a team comprising policemen and members of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) returned after waiting at Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail for four hours.
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore had allowed police to conduct the text on Imran in connection with cases filed against him and a number of PTI leaders after unprecedented incidents of vandalism in which dozens of army installations were attacked on May 9 and May 10 or 2023.
According to sources, a Lahore police investigation team led by DSP Asif Javed arrived at Adiala Jail at 12:45 pm to conduct a polygraph test, photogrammetric and voice matching tests.
Members of the PFSA were also part of the investigation team, including inspectors Muhammad Aslam, Tasaddaq, Saleem, and Naveed as well technical expert Abid Ayub.
Upon their arrival, the prison authorities informed the PTI founder, but he refused for the fourth time to join the investigation. Sources said Imran was informed that the investigation team had come with a court order, yet he again declined to undergo the tests.
After Imran's refusal to cooperate in the investigation process, the teams had to return after a long wait.
Earlier, Imran Khan had stipulated that he would only participate in the investigation and undergo the tests in the presence of his lawyers.
However, when the investigators returned with his legal counsel present, he provided a written response stating that Article 13 grants him protection from being compelled to become a witness against himself or assist in producing evidence that may be used against him.
Lahore ATC-I Judge Manzer Ali Gill on May 14 allowed the police to conduct polygraphlie detectionand photogrammetricfacial and voice analysistests of Imran Khan in twelve May 9 cases.
The judge had ordered completion of the tests within 12 days, saying the prosecution might meet the PTI founder in Adiala Jail during that period.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Lahore, PTI leadersSalman Akram Raja and Malik Ahmed Khansaid there is no restriction on Imran Khan's sons to return to Pakistan and participate in politics.
The PTI founder's sonsKasim and Suleimanhave remained throughout their lives in the United Kingdom with their mother--Imran's first wife Jemima Goldsmith
In a rare interview released on social media on May 13, Kasim and Sulaiman spoke about the alleged "suppression of democracy" in Pakistan and a lack of basic facilities for Imran Khan in his prison cell. They said their father was being kept in prison on "trumped up charges."
They also urged US President Donald Trump and the international community to help free their father from prison, appealing to "people of influence" around the world to press for his release. WITH INPUT FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT IN LAHORE
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