Riots break out after ex-PM Imran Khan’s arrest leaves at least six dead

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was placed in pre-trial detention on Wednesday May 10 for a corruption case, the day after his arrest which sparked riots causing the dispatch of soldiers to Punjab. “The court approved the remand of Imran Khan for a period of eight days”said Ali Bukhari, one of his lawyers, after the closed-door hearing.

Violent clashes erupted between supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of Imran Khan, and the police following the announcement of the arrest of the former Prime Minister. At least six people have died in incidents linked to the protests, police and hospitals said on Wednesday. Protesters broke into the residence of the military commander in Lahore, a city in the east of the country, and blocked the entrance gates of the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad.

Hundreds of police injured

The government has given the go-ahead for the deployment of troops to the country’s most populous province of Punjab, where nearly 1,000 protesters have been arrested and 130 police injured since protests began on Tuesday. Schools were also closed on Wednesday across the country and access to social networks such as Twitter and Facebook was restricted by the authorities. By noon, protesters had blocked some roads leading to Islamabad. Large security forces were mobilized in the capital outside the police building where the special court met to retry the former prime minister.

Imran Khan was removed from his post as head of government in April 2022, after losing the support of the army and the vote of a motion of no confidence against him. The target of several dozen court cases, he pushed for the organization of early elections before the October deadline, in the hope of returning to power.