PTI optimistic about 'release of Imran Khan this month'

• Latif Kohsa says Imran Khan to be released in April from prison.
• PTI lawyer says party founder wants supremacy of Constitution.
• Deposed premier has been behind bars since August last year.
  

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's senior leader Latif Khosa has doubled down on the PTI members’ claims that incarcerated party founder Imran Khan’s release from prison is imminent, asserting that he would be able to walk free from the jail this month.

“I am saying this for sure that the PTI founder will be released in [this] April,” he said while speaking on Geo News programme Naya Pakistan on Sunday.

Lately, several party leaders including PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan have made similar claims that the incarcerated party founder would be released from jail very soon.

Responding to the claims that PTI founder’s release will be a part of any deal, Kohsa said calling the release a result of any deal would be unjustified.

He said the former premier does not believe in the politics of revenge and only wanted supremacy of Constitution in the country.

Speaking about the cases against the PTI founder, Khosa downplayed Khan’s conviction in cipher and un-Islamic nikkah case, stating: “In the cipher case, the court has already observed 'where is the cipher', while Iddat case is a shameful.” 

Earlier this month, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had suspended Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi 14-year sentences in the Toshakhana reference and fixed the hearing for main appeal against conviction after Eid holidays.

However, Khan remains behind bars as he has been booked in range of other cases containing criminal charges including violating Official Secrets Act, terrorism, corruption and others. 

Khan, the deposed prime minister, was ousted from power via opposition's no-confidence motion in April 2022. However, the PTI alleged that Khan removal was orchestrated by the United States by supporting the opposition's no-trust motion.

The PTI founder was arrested in August last year after he was sentenced in Toshakhana case. Later, he was convicted in cipher and un-Islamic marriage cases as well wherein his appeals are currently pending before the respective courts.

The former ruling party also claims Imran Khan was put behind bars on trumped up charges to politically victimise him and keep him out of the active politics.