Faizan Choudhry, the lawyer of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, announced that the National Accountability Bureau, responsible for combating corruption, listened to Khan’s testimony on Tuesday regarding allegations of corruption. This came less than a week after he refused to appear for questioning and denounced the accusations against him. Choudhry mentioned that Khan's wife, Bushra, who is also facing allegations of illicit gains, joined him, but Imran Khan was questioned alone until early Tuesday afternoon. She did not comment on the allegations against her, but Khan denied that she had committed any wrongdoing.
Khan tweeted, “We have all heard about forced marriages in Pakistan, but in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, we are witnessing a new phenomenon, namely forced divorce,” referring to what he believes is pressure from the government and military on party members to leave political work. A notable figure from the party, former Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, distanced herself after being detained for more than ten days. In a press conference on Tuesday, she stated that she would leave politics for health and family reasons.
The former international cricket star became Prime Minister in 2018 with implicit support from the military, although both sides denied this support at that time. However, he later fell out with military leaders and was ousted from the Prime Minister's position after losing a no-confidence vote in 2022. The National Accountability Bureau, which has investigated every person who held a ministerial position since 2008 or brought them to trial or imprisoned them, requested Khan to appear before it for questioning on May 18, but he refused. Khan described the allegations as "baseless, absurd, and completely fabricated" in a statement to the bureau last week.
