The political fortunes of both former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf party or PTI hang in the balance following his conviction on graft charges and incarceration. The guilty verdict automatically triggers Khan’s disqualification from seeking public office for the next five years, ruling out his contesting the coming general election.

Other than appealing to higher courts to overturn the verdict, the party’s core committee is preparing behind the scenes for the eventuality that the former prime minister is not granted relief even by the Supreme Court and looking at life without the charismatic Khan at the helm.

Raoof Hasan, the PTI’s information secretary who spoke to Mayank Chhaya Reports from Islamabad, cast serious doubts about the trial court order by questioning how it was that a 30-page order was drafted and pronounced in just about half an hour.