Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse Khan supporters in Karachi, Lahore, and Faisalabad, while protesters blocked roads in the capital Islamabad, Peshawar, and other cities.
Former PM Imran Khan arrested in Al-Qadir Trust case
AMN / WEB DESK
Arrest of Imran Khan has resulted in protests and demonstrations across Pakistan. PTI workers are protesting in cities across the country, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar. In Karachi, demonstrators clashed with the police. Internet has been suspended in several parts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. And section 144 has been imposed in Peshawar.
The PTI Secretary General Asad Umar has announced that a six-member party committee would soon determine the next course of action.
PTI workers allegedly set police van on fire during protest against Imran’s arrest in Karachi
In a statement, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi said a meeting of the central leadership and members of the emergency committee formed by the party chief has been convened to mull future course of action in view of the arrest.
The future course of action will be announced after assessing the situation, he added.
PTI leaders Saifullah Niazi, Azam Swati, Ijaz Chaudhary, Murad Saeed, Ali Amin, and Qureshi are part of the emergency committee.
Former prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan was taken into custody on Tuesday by paramilitary Rangers from the premises of the Islamabad High Court, where he had arrived for hearings in two cases.
Pakistan has a long history of incarcerating individuals who have held the country’s top executive office.
It appears Khan got wind of his arrest hours earlier as before leaving for the court the PTI chief said: “If someone has a warrant, they should directly bring it to me. Bring the warrant, my lawyer will be there. I’m ready to go to the jail myself.”
The former premier, while demanding that he be approached through a warrant, urged against staging any drama.
In Karachi, demonstrators clashed with the police near Nursery. They threw stones at and set fire to police vehicles, tore down street lights and damaged a bus. There were reports that police fired teargas shells at the protesters. Police also fired teargas shells at protesters on Rawalpindi’s Murree Road.
Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse Khan supporters in Karachi, Lahore, and Faisalabad, while protesters blocked roads in the capital Islamabad, Peshawar, and other cities.
The workers also damaged public property and set police vehicles on fire in Charsadda, Karachi, Lahore, and several other cities after the party called on supporters to “shut down Pakistan” over his arrest. PTI wrote on Twitter: “It’s your time, people of Pakistan. Khan has always stood for you, now its time to stand for him.”
The PTI chairman was arrested as part of the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) investigation in the Al-Qadir Trust case ahead of his appearance before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to seek bail in multiple FIRs registered against him.
Rangers personnel driving a black Toyota Hilux Vigo shifted Imran Khan to NAB’s Rawalpindi office.
“There is no case against me. I’m mentally prepared to be arrested. If I have to go to jail, I’m ready,” Khan said. The cricketer-turned-politician said that the nation knows him for the last 50 years.
Khan’s dramatic arrest, in which paramilitary troops had to break several doors, jump through smashed windows, and scuffle with PTI supporters and lawyers to reach the legally beleaguered firebrand politician, has sparked protests across the country.
Inspector General of Police, (IGP) Islamabad Dr Akbar Nasir Khan confirmed the development and said that the situation was under control.
According to Geo News, the PTI chairman was in the IHC’s biometric verification department when he was nabbed by paramilitary men. The NAB officials had arrest warrants.
Khan’s warrants were issued on May 1 by NAB chairman Lt Gen (retd) Nazir Ahmad Butt.
NAB in a statement said Khan was booked under Section 9A of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.
“The arrest was ordered and implemented by the NAB,” the accountability watchdog said in a statement, adding, “Rangers troops were deployed for the action on the orders of the Ministry of the Interior”.
What is Al-Qadir Trust case?
The former PM Imran Khan along with his wife Bushra Bibi and other PTI leaders, is facing a NAB inquiry related to a settlement between the PTI government and a property tycoon, which reportedly caused a loss of 190 million pounds to the national exchequer.
As per the charges, Khan and other accused allegedly adjusted Rs50 billion — 190 million pounds at the time — sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the government.
They are also accused of getting undue benefit in the form of over 458 kanals of land at Mouza Bakrala, Sohawa, to establish Al Qadir University.