Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested in the afternoon of Tuesday, May 9, while he was appearing at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in relation to hearings in some of the graft cases against him.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed that Khan was arrested by Pakistan’s anti-corruption body, the National Accountability Bureau, for causing losses to the national treasury, Dawn reported. The newspaper described the event of Khan’s arrest as “shocking.”
The Islamabad police confirmed that Khan was arrested in relation to one of the graft cases pending against him.
Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said the government was “crossing a red line” and has asked its supporters to take to the streets. There are already reports of large-scale demonstrations against Khan’s arrest taking place in different parts of the country.
Khan’s party colleague Fawad Chaudhry was the one to first tweet about Khan’s arrest. He claimed that Khan was taken to an unknown location. Another party colleague Hammad Azhar claimed that Khan (70) had been manhandled by the police.
Following the news of Khan’s arrest from the court premises, the IHC issued summons to the city police chief and other officials to appear in court and explain the reasons for his arrest.
Lahore!! #ReleaseImranKhan pic.twitter.com/9zgEPU15FN
— PTI (@PTIofficial) May 9, 2023
Khan was removed from power in April last year after his party lost a no-confidence vote in the parliament. He has alleged that his removal was part of a conspiracy against him by the country’s military along with external forces, especially the US. He claimed that the conspiracy was due to his refusal to toe the US line on the war in Ukraine.
Ever since his ouster, Khan has been charged in numerous graft cases by the government led by Shehbaz Sharif. He was also attacked and injured during a march to capital Islamabad organized by his party. Imran Khan has repeatedly made the allegations about some officers of the Pakistan army being involved in a plot to assassinate him.
Pakistan security forces had earlier tried to arrest him in March this year. However, the attempt was thwarted due to the large presence of PTI supporters outside Khan’s residence in Lahore.
He and his party have been demanding early national elections, which has been refused by the government. The national elections are due this year. The government has also delayed holding elections to the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Finally, the Pakistan Supreme Court had to intervene last month to ask the government to hold a snap election in Punjab on May 14.
PTI and Khan have claimed that the current government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is scared to hold the elections early as they fear losing.
The government’s refusal to hold the elections earlier and the repressive measures taken against the PTI is a sign of its inability to win over popular support, which is strongly in favor of Khan and his PTI at the moment, Professor Junaid Ahmad told Rania Khalek of BreakThrough news last week.
