Police in Pakistan have arrested hundreds of supporters of ousted prime minister Imran Khan for violence after his arrest on corruption charges, deepening a political crisis in the nuclear-armed country.
Key points:
- Police say Mr Khan’s supporters set alight 14 government buildings and 25 police vehicles
- A judge has been asked to keep Mr Khan in custody for a fortnight
- Mr Khan was ousted as prime minister in April 2022 in a parliamentary no-confidence vote
Tuesday’s arrest of the former cricket hero, and Pakistan’s most popular politician according to opinion polls, came at a precarious time for the country that is facing a shortage of foreign exchange and a months-long delay of an IMF bailout.
Mr Khan is the seventh former prime minister to be arrested in Pakistan.
His arrest deepened political turmoil and sparked violent demonstrations on Tuesday.
At least two people were killed in the overnight violence, one in the south-western city of Quetta and the other in north-western Pakistan, and dozens were wounded in various parts of the country.
In eastern Punjab province, where authorities said 157 police officers were injured in clashes with Mr Khan’s supporters, the local government asked the army to step in and restore order.
Mobile data services were shut for a second day while Twitter, YouTube and Facebook were disrupted, as security forces tried to restore order after violence.
The government said supporters of Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party had attacked important state buildings and damaged private and public vehicles.
Police said 945 of his supporters had been arrested in Punjab province after 25 police vehicles and more than 14 government buildings were set on fire.
“This can’t be tolerated, the law will take its course,” Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal told a news conference
“These violent attacks were not the outcome of any public outpouring, they were planned by the PTI rank and file.”
Authorities in three of Pakistan’s four provinces have imposed an emergency order banning all gatherings after Mr Khan’s supporters clashed with police.
Khan appears at court
Mr Khan appeared in court on Wednesday, a day after he was dragged from another court and arrested in Islamabad.
A judge was asked to approve keeping the 70-year-old opposition leader in custody for up to 14 days.
Pakistan’s GEO television broadcast footage showing Mr Khan appearing before a judge at a temporary court inside a police compound on Wednesday.
The former premier was seen seated in a chair, holding documents.
He appeared calm but tired.
The judge is expected to rule on the request for a 14-day detention later in the day.
Meanwhile, Mr Khan’s legal team challenged his arrest before the Islamabad High Court, seeking his release.
His arrest came a day after the powerful military rebuked him for repeatedly accusing a senior military officer of trying to engineer his assassination and the former armed forces chief of being behind his removal from power last year.
Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper said in an editorial that “the nature and locus of the protests that broke out following Mr Khan’s arrest yesterday signal that public anger is also directed at the military”.
Mr Khan was due to front court for two hearings on Wednesday, Geo News reported, including for a corruption case related to property and another case that alleges Mr Khan unlawfully sold state gifts during his 2018-22 tenure as premier.
Mr Khan has denied wrongdoing.
PTI has called for supporters to gather in the capital and for a “shutdown” across the country of 220 million.
An International Monetary Fund bailout package for Pakistan has been delayed for months even though its foreign exchange reserves are barely enough to cover a month’s imports.
Khan could be barred from office
PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the party’s senior leadership was in Islamabad to meet Mr Khan and would approach the Supreme Court to challenge an Islamabad High Court order that deemed Khan’s arrest legal.
“We continue to call PTI family workers, supporters and the people of Pakistan onto the streets for peaceful protest against this unconstitutional behaviour,” Mr Qureshi wrote on Twitter.
The protests have disrupted business in several cities.
Mr Khan was ousted as prime minister in April 2022 in a parliamentary no-confidence vote. He has not slowed his campaign against the ouster even though he was wounded in a November attack on his convoy as he led a protest march to Islamabad calling for snap general elections.
The corruption case is one of more than 100 registered against Mr Khan since he was ousted after four years in power.
In most of the cases, Mr Khan faces being barred from holding public office if convicted, with a national election scheduled for November.
“Imran Khan will have to face the law and if he is cleared he will be contesting elections and if he is found guilty he will have to face the consequences,” Mr Iqbal, the minister, said.
Wires/ABC