The
71-year-old former cricket star has been embroiled in political
and legal battles since he was ousted as prime minister in April
2022. He has not been seen in public since he was jailed for
three years in August for unlawfully selling state gifts while
in office from 2018 to 2022.
"The Election Commission indicted Imran Khan in the absence of
lawyers," Khan's lawyer Haider Panjutha wrote on social media
platform X.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) initiated contempt
proceedings against Khan and other former leaders of his
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, saying Khan and his
colleagues had made "derogatory and contemptuous remarks against
the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan and used intemperate
and insulting language."
Khan, who is widely seen as the country's most popular leader,
denies all charges against him and says he is being by hounded
by the powerful military, which wants to keep him out of the
polls due next month. The military denies this.
Last week, a high court refused to suspend Khan's
disqualification from contesting the elections.
Separately, a Pakistan court on Wednesday ruled that Khan's
party will not be allowed to use its traditional election symbol
of a cricket bat in the February elections, Panjutha said.
The electoral body last month declared that PTI intra-party
elections in December were void. The party had needed to hold
those elections in order to retain the symbol. The PTI
challenged that decision in court and got a stay order before
Wednesday's decision to continue with the ECP's earlier
decision.
Khan's party plans on challenging the decision at the Supreme
Court of Pakistan, PTI leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said on
Wednesday, adding the party will not boycott elections.
(Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi; Editing by Andrew
Heavens, William Maclean)
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