"Pakistan following India…": Congress MP Karti Chidambaram equates Imran Khan's arrest with Rahul Gandhi's disqualification case

New Delhi [India], August 5 : Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram on Saturday equated the arrest of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's arrest with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification case and said that "Pakistan is following the India model of preventing the main opposition leader from contesting elections." 
Chidambaram referred to Rahul Gandhi's Modi surname defamation case which cost him his MP status temporarily, two-year criminal defamation conviction, which led to his disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP.
The Congress claimed that the move was taken to prevent Gandhi from contesting the upcoming general election.
Taking to Twitter, Karti Chidambaram tweeted, "Pakistan is following the India model in preventing the principal opposition leader from contesting elections."
On Friday, the Supreme Court stayed Rahul Gandhi's conviction in the Modi surname remark case, Congress is hopeful that their party leader and Wayanad MP will return to the Lok Sabha and take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government on the Manipur issue.
Earlier today, a Pakistan district and sessions court sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan to three years in prison and disqualification from participating in active politics for five years in the Toshakhana case for illegally selling state gifts.
The court also imposed a fine of Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 100,000 on the PTI chief, Geo News reported.
Khan was arrested from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore soon after being convicted in the Toshakhana case today, Geo News reported.
Dawn reported that during the hearing today, presided by Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Humayun Dilawar, the trial court ruled that charges against the former prime minister in the case were proven.
“Imran Khan deliberately submitted fake details [of Toshakhana gifts] to the ECP and is found guilty of corrupt practices,” he stated and sent the PTI chief to jail for three years under Section 174 of the Election Act.
Ahead of today’s proceedings, a large contingent of police was deployed outside the court premises with only lawyers allowed inside the courtroom.
The development comes after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday set aside the session court’s verdict on the Toshakhana reference against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman as maintainable and ordered the lower court to rehear the case.
The case pertains to the allegations that the former PM "deliberately concealed" details of the gifts he retained from the Toshaskhana -- a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept -- during his time as the prime minister and proceeds from their reported sales.
The Toshakhana case registered by ruling party lawmakers is based on a criminal complaint filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), as per the Dawn report.
As per the Toshakhana rules, gifts and other such materials received by persons to whom these rules are applicable shall be reported to the Cabinet Division. Notably, PTI Chairman Imran Khan has faced a number of legal cases over his retention of gifts. He has also been disqualified by the electoral body over the issue.
On May 9, this year, former PM and PTI Chairman Imran Khan was arrested from inside the High Court in Islamabad by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the charges of corruption in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust, which he owns alongside his wife, Bushra Bibi.