Another conviction

The manner in which Imran Khan has been treated over the past year has reached a point where every verdict against him — regardless of its legal soundness — is bound to be viewed with suspicion. The latest conviction in the Toshakhana-2 case is no exception. Even if the judgment rests on merit, the circumstances surrounding it, and the sequence of events that preceded it, ensure that its credibility will remain contested in the court of public opinion.

Context matters, procedure matters and perception matters even more when the accused is a former prime minister who now sits at the centre of a deeply polarised polity. Imran Khan has already been convicted in the Toshakhana-1 case and the £190 million corruption reference. The sheer speed and cumulative severity of these convictions — all while he remains in jail, facing restricted access to family and counsel — inevitably blurs the lines between accountability and vengeance. When Information Minister Attaullah Tarar matter-of-factly announces how one sentence will commence after another ends, it reinforces the impression of a conveyor belt of convictions rather than a justice system painstakingly weighing each case on its own merits, hinting that those in the shadows want to lock up the accused and throw away the key for good. The treatment meted out to Imran Khan has crossed the threshold where justice can plausibly claim neutrality. Even if the conviction in question withstands appellate scrutiny, it will remain tainted by association with a broader campaign perceived as punitive and selective.

This need not have been inevitable. A slower, more transparent process, divorced from political signalling and ministerial commentary, might have allowed the law to speak for itself. Instead, the accumulation of cases and sentences has created the impression of punishment by exhaustion. Pakistan does not benefit from this outcome. Instead, it only deepens mistrust and polarisation among the people.