(Islamabad) Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested on Tuesday during his appearance before a court in Islamabad to answer charges of corruption, sparking demonstrations across the country repressed in particular by firing tear gas.
Police fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse supporters of Mr Khan protesting in Karachi and Lahore. Roads were also blocked near Islamabad, as well as in the city of Peshawar west of the capital.
“Imran Khan has been arrested in the Qadir Trust case,” the official Islamabad Police Twitter account said, referring to a corruption case.
Mr. Khan, who wants to return to power, has been the target of several dozen court cases since his ousting last year and had so far succeeded in thwarting various arrest attempts.
A video broadcast on local television stations shows Mr Khan pushed by dozens of paramilitaries into an armored car inside the premises of the High Court in Islamabad.
“As we arrived in the court’s biometric control room to take attendance, dozens of rangers attacked us,” Ali Bukhari, a lawyer for Khan’s party PTI, told AFP. “They beat him and dragged him out,” he added.
“My Pakistanis, by the time these words reach you, I will have been arrested in connection with an illegitimate affair,” said Imran Khan, who had anticipated his detention, in a pre-recorded video. “Basic rights in Pakistan, the rights given to us by our constitution and our democracy have been buried,” he adds.
His arrest comes the day after the army warned against “unfounded allegations” made according to it 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. ex-prime minister had been shot in the leg during this meeting.
“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 lamented.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whom Mr Khan also accused of being involved in the assassination plot, also condemned the charges. “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 tweeted.
Elections
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.
“Senior military officials have no intention of closing the gap between them and Mr. Khan,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center.
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 has been pressuring the fragile coalition government to hold early 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 author and is now in custody.
These conclusions were rejected by Mr Khan who points out 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 former prime minister said in a video released Tuesday before his arrest.
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.
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 thirty years.