In Pakistan, an anti-corruption court on Thursday barred ex-prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi from issuing provocative statements against state institutions, including the army, and officials.
In Islamabad, during the hearing of a petition seeking a fair trial, Judge Basir Javed Rana of the Accountability Court also stated that the media should limit its reporting to court proceedings and not report statements of the accused.
According to the order, Imran Khan made provocative political statements against senior officials of state institutions, including the army, the judiciary, and the army chief.
The court also ordered the prosecution, the accused, and their defence counsels not to make political or inflammatory statements that may disrupt the decorum of the court.
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Also, the court ordered the media to refrain from publishing political and provocative narratives targeting state institutions and officials and was asked to stick to PEMRA guidelines which prohibit discussing ongoing cases.
The ex-prime minister announced that premeditated rigging marred the by-polls in Punjab and blamed the Punjab Police for indulging in rigging.
Khan highlighted that the recent by-polls were also conducted in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) is ruling, confirming that no instances of rigging occurred in the province.
Khan complained that various tactics were deployed ahead of the general polls to besmirch the reputation of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, resulting in the conversion of a majority vote into a minority.