Since the establishment of Pakistan, many Prime Ministers have been convicted by the courts in various cases and they have also been arrested and kept in jail. In the history of Pakistan, there have been 7 prime ministers who the courts punished in various cases, which include Imran Khan, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Nawaz Sharif, Yusuf Raza Gilani, Benazir Bhutto, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy.
Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy
Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy belonged to Bengal and had a very important role in Pakistan’s independence movement, but after the creation of Pakistan, he had many arguments with the leadership of the Muslim League.
After a long political career, he was made the Prime Minister of Pakistan under the 1956 Constitution. He was the Prime Minister from 12 September 1956 to 11 October 1957.
The same political leader was arrested on 30 January 1962 under the Security Act (1952) for participating in political activities in violation of the IBD during the regime of General Ayub Khan.
He was kept in solitary confinement in Karachi jail. Suhrawardy was released on August 19, 1962, when the basic democracy elections were completed.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, was arrested on September 3, 1977, by the army for the murder of Nawab Muhammad Ahmad Khan Kasuri in March 1974.
His trial was initiated by the Lahore High Court instead of the local court, giving him one less chance of appeal. He was hanged on April 4, 1979, in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, after being sentenced to death by the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court about one and a half years later.
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir, the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was the prime minister of Pakistan twice, was detained and imprisoned for various periods after her father’s execution. He was first detained in prison for six months and then under house arrest for six months.
She was released in April 1980 but was arrested again in March 1981 by the Zia government, which justified the hijacking of a PIA flight by an organization called Zulfiqar.
She was kept in Sukkur Jail during this time and was released after three years in 1984. She was not prosecuted nor punished and this was the last prison of her life.
Yousuf Raza Gilani
Pakistan People’s Party member Yousuf Raza Gilani became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan on April 26, 2012, after he was sentenced to a few moments in prison for contempt of court.
He was found guilty and a few days later another court disqualified him from the post of member of the National Assembly and couldn’t maintain his position.
Nawaz Sharif
Nawaz Sharif, a three-time Prime Minister of Pakistan, was first arrested when his government was overthrown in 1999 by then Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf.
The Accountability Court of Islamabad convicted him in the Avenfield reference on July 6, 2018, but he could not be arrested immediately because he was out of the country. On July 13, 2018, just two weeks before the general elections, he returned to Pakistan where he was arrested at the airport and sent to Adiala Jail.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the LNG import scandal. This is the second Prime Minister belonging to Pakistan Muslim League (N) who has faced arrest.
Imran Khan
Chairman PTI Imran Khan was arrested on May 9, 2023, from the premises of Islamabad High Court, but two days later the Supreme Court ordered his release. In the Tosha Khana case, the Sessions Court of Islamabad sentenced Imran Khan to 3 years in prison and a fine of Rs 100,000, after which Imran Khan was arrested from his residence in Zaman Park.
