Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested on Tuesday (May 9) as he appeared in court in Islamabad in one of several cases against him since he was ousted from power in April 2022. , police said. “Imran Khan was arrested in the Qadir Trust case”laconically announced the official islamabad police twitter account, in reference to a corruption case. Mr. Khan has been the target of dozens of court cases since his ousting from power last year.
Leaders of Mr Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (“Pakistan Justice Movement”, PTI), urged their supporters to take to the streets, but police warned that an order banning gatherings of more than four people was in effect and would be strictly enforced. Local TV stations showed scenes of the stampede outside the courthouse, where hundreds of PTI supporters clashed with security guards.
Demonstrations erupted in the afternoon and were suppressed. Agence France-Presse correspondents in Lahore, in the east of the country, reported water cannon fire, while in Karachi, in the south, police used tear gas to disperse protesters.
Imran Khan’s arrest comes a day after the army warned against “baseless allegations” pronounced, according to her, by the former Prime Minister. At a weekend rally in Lahore, Mr Khan again claimed that Major General Faisal Naseer, a senior intelligence officer, was involved in his assassination attempt in early November 2022 The former prime minister had been shot in the leg.
“These fabricated and malicious allegations are extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable”the Army’s Interservice Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement. “This has been a consistent trend since last year. Military and intelligence officials are the target of innuendo and raucous propaganda aimed at promoting political goals”, he adds. The ISPR has stated that it reserves the right to“take legal action against manifestly false and malicious statements and propaganda”.
“Allegations without any proof”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whom Mr Khan also accused of being involved in the assassination plot, said: “His allegations without any evidence against General Faisal Naseer and the officers of our intelligence agency cannot be allowed and will not be tolerated”, he insisted on Twitter.
Criticism of the military institution is rare in Pakistan, where army leaders wield considerable influence over domestic and foreign policy. They have long been accused of interfering in the rise and fall of governments.
The military warning illustrates how badly relations between Mr Khan and the country’s powerful military have deteriorated. She first supported him in his accession to power in 2018, before withdrawing his support, then Imran Khan was ousted from office by a vote of no confidence in Parliament in April 2022. Since then, the politician pressured the fragile coalition government to hold snap elections before October.
Officially, the attack on Mr. Khan is the work of a lone gunman who, in a video released by the police, admits to being the perpetrator and is now in custody. These conclusions were rejected by Mr Khan, who recalls that the authorities refused his attempts to file an initial information report (IRR) with the police to identify the “real culprits”. “There is no reason for me to invent facts”the ex-prime minister said in a video released on Tuesday.
Imran Khan targeted by dozens of court cases
Mr. Khan has been the target of dozens of court cases since his ouster, a tactic used by various Pakistani governments to silence their opponents, analysts say.
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Pakistan’s powerful military wields immense influence in the country and has staged at least three coups since independence in 1947, ruling for more than 30 years. As the national elections approach in October, a myriad of actions to secure early votes in provincial assemblies, which are usually held at the same time, are being considered in court.
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