What is the Al-Qadir Trust case behind Imran Khan's arrest?

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested by paramilitary Rangers on Tuesday while he was present at the Islamabad High Court for the hearing of a corruption case, a day after he took on the country's powerful army for allegedly hatching a plot to kill him. 

Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was taken into custody by the Rangers when he appeared in court on anti-graft charges, his PTI lawyer Faisal Chaudhry said.

The local media reports showed that Khan was arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust Case.

What is the Al-Qadir Trust Case?

During his tenure as Prime Minister of Pakistan, Khan had made a promise of developing a project which was supposed to offer quality education in Jhelum, Punjab.

The reports added that the project saw participation from Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi and several close aides-- Zulfiqar Bukhari and Babar Awan. To turn his promise into reality, Khan created Al-Qadir University Project Trust in which Bibi, Bukhari, and Awan were named as office bearers. 

Meanwhile, a deal was sealed between the then PTI government and a property tycoon, which led to a loss of 190 million pounds to the national exchequer.

As per a report by GeoNews, the charges against Khan and the others showed that the accused allegedly adjusted Rs 50 billion — 190 million pounds at the time — sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the government.

The PTI leaders in the case are also accused of receiving undue benefit in the form of over 458 acres of land at Mouza Bakrala, Sohawa, to establish Al Qadir University.

Khan has been facing a slew of cases since his ouster through a no trust vote in April last year. He has rejected all these cases as political victimisation by the ruling alliance. Currently, Khan is facing over 140 cases related to terrorism, blasphemy, murder, violence, inciting to violence.

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