Islamabad, May 9, (dpa/GNA) – Pakistan’s former prime minister, Imran Khan, was arrested on Tuesday as his workers clashed with riot police, in moves likely to further increase the political turmoil in the nation.
“Former PM Imran Khan has been abducted from court premises, scores of lawyers and general people have been tortured,” Khan’s close aide and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said.
The former leader was arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court, where he was supposed to appear in connection with a bail application.
Chaudhry said Khan was whisked away by unknown people to an unknown location, and the high court chief justice had sought a further explanation from the authorities.
The Islamabad police issued a statement, saying Khan had been arrested in connection with one of the many corruption charges he is facing.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), an anti-corruption watchdog, had issued arrest warrants for Khan.
“Several call-up notices were issued to Khan and his wife but there was no response,” Bilal Punnu, a spokesperson for the NAB, told dpa.
“The arrest has been conducted by the NAB for inflicting losses to the national treasury,” Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Twitter.
Local media broadcast images of Khan being pulled and shoved into an armoured vehicle within the court premises.
The arrest comes a day after the military’s media wing ISPR, issued a statement deploring Khan’s “fabricated and malicious allegations” that senior military officials were behind the assassination attempts against him.
In November, he was shot in the leg during a protest march to push the government to hold fresh elections. Khan has repeatedly accused serving members of the military and officials from the security agency of being behind the attack.
Meanwhile there are around 100 cases against Khan, who faces allegations of corruption. He has repeatedly ignored arrest warrants and missed court proceedings, citing threats, even though he has attended political rallies.
The tug-of-war over the former premier’s arrest increases the political turmoil, at a time when the country is on the brink of default, due to its ailing economy.
“It is unfortunate that elected prime ministers are hanged, murdered, sacked and humiliated in Pakistan,” Zafarullah Khan, a political analyst based in the capital, told dpa.
“This has been the country’s history. Yesterday, it was Imran Khan on whose orders his opponents were arrested and kept in jail – and today he is facing the same,” he said.
“Violence will not serve [Khan’s party] politically,” he said as workers from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party started protest rallies in different cities.
Huge crowds rallied in major cities to protest against the arrest. Military installations and buildings particularly came under attack in several cities as the protesters, believe that the army was behind the move to arrest Khan.
The protesters broke into a services club and vandalized the military facility in the eastern city of Lahore. In Rawalpindi, the protesters stormed the gate of the military’s headquarters in an unprecedented move.
“This is not politics, it’s sheer terrorism. My promise to the nation that we will not spare a single one who is involved in this attack on the state of Pakistan,” Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Twitter.
At least one worker for Khan’s party was killed in Quetta, Shireen Mazari, former minister and senior PTI leader told the media.
“We will block the entire country and protest until Khan is released,” Waseem Qayyum, a protester in the capital, told dpa.
Qayyum was accompanied by a small group of PTI members, who had come from the Swabi district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to express solidarity with Khan at the court hearing.
“They [the government] have no idea about the power of the masses,” another protester Haji Shafiq Jadoon, told dpa.
Khan, who came to power after a disputed election in 2018, was removed by parliament in April last year through a no-confidence vote, and has since faced a slew of legal challenges.
In October, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified Khan from politics over false statements and incorrect declaration of assets.
GNA