Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested by paramilitary Rangers on Tuesday whereas he was current on the Islamabad High Court for the listening to of a corruption case, a day after he took on the nation’s highly effective military for allegedly hatching a plot to kill him.
The arrest of the 70-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician comes a day after the highly effective military accused Khan of levelling baseless allegations in opposition to a senior officer of the spy company ISI.
The chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who travelled from Lahore to the federal capital Islamabad, was present process a biometric course of on the courtroom when the Rangers broke open the glass window and arrested him after beating legal professionals and Khan’s safety employees, in line with senior social gathering chief Shireen Mazari.
TV footage confirmed the Rangers grabbing Khan from the collar and bundling him into a jail van. The Rangers, which function beneath the Interior Ministry, are often commanded by officers on secondment from the military.
“Khan has been arrested in a land switch case to property tycoon Malik Riaz and is being handed over to National Accountability Bureau (NAB)”, a NAB official confirmed to PTI.
Al-Qadir Trust case
He stated that Khan has been arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case which is in regards to the organising of Al-Qadir University for Sufism in 2019 Sohawa space of Jhelum district of Punjab.
“His arrest warrants had been issued right this moment morning and subsequently he’s arrested,” he stated.
Khan’s arrest warrant, nevertheless, confirmed that it was issued on May 1. The warrant stated that Khan was accused of corruption and corrupt apply.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah stated that Khan failed to seem earlier than the courtroom regardless of being issued a number of notices. “The arrest has been performed by the National Accountability Bureau for inflicting losses to the nationwide treasury,” he tweeted.
He added that Khan was not tortured.
Khan’s pre-recorded video
In a pre-recorded video issued by the social gathering after his arrest, Khan stated, “until the time these phrases of mine attain you, I shall be arrested in a baseless case. This exhibits that elementary rights and democracy in Pakistan have been buried.” “All that is being carried out as a result of they need me to just accept the corrupt, imported authorities that has been forcefully imposed on us,” Khan stated.
He stated if somebody has a warrant, they need to immediately convey it to me. “Bring the warrant, my lawyer shall be there. I’m able to go to jail myself,” Khan stated.
His arrest got here a day after the highly effective Pakistan Army on Monday slammed Khan for “extremely irresponsible and baseless” allegations by him in opposition to a serving ISI officer with none proof.
“We ask the political chief involved to make a recourse to authorized avenues and cease making false allegations. The establishment reserves the precise to take authorized plan of action in opposition to patently false and malafide statements and propaganda,” the military stated, immediately referring to Khan.
Police’s response
Islamabad police launched a short assertion quoting Inspector General (IG) Akbar Nasir Khan as saying that Khan had been arrested in relation to the case which considerations allegations that Bahria Town allotted land value Rs 530 million to Al-Qadir Trust, owned by the PTI chairman and his spouse Bushra Bibi.
The police chief additionally stated that the scenario in Islamabad was “regular”. He added that Section 144 had been imposed in the federal capital and motion can be taken in opposition to violators.
Khan’s supporters have began protests in varied cities in opposition to his arrest. The social gathering employees began converging on the Insaf House, PTI essential workplace, in Karachi, in Peshawar and Lahore. There had been additionally studies of employees seen on the roads of Rawalpindi and Islamabad as nicely.
It was stated that Khan was shifted to NAB workplace in Rawalpindi the place a medical checkup was carried out. However, PTI chief Fawad Chaudhry claimed that Khan was shifted to an unknown location.
“What legal guidelines? Courts attacked by Rangers as if invading an occupied land – legal professionals & IHC employees additionally crushed. This is Pakistan right this moment – a fascist State the place the High Court has been attacked by paramilitary forces,” former minister Mazari stated.
The social gathering alleged that Khan was being tortured but it surely was not confirmed independently.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court ordered the Islamabad police chief and others to seem earlier than the courtroom and clarify why Khan was arrested from the courtroom.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq stated that he was exhibiting “restraint” and warned that he would “summon” the prime minister if the Islamabad police chief didn’t seem earlier than the courtroom.
“Come to courtroom and inform us why Imran has been arrested and in which case,” Justice Farooq stated.
Later, the IG Islamabad appeared and instructed the courtroom that Khan was arrested by NAB and likewise offered a replica of his arrest warrant.
Quoting Barrister Gohar Khan, who was on the courtroom throughout Khan’s arrest, Dawn newspaper stated the previous prime minister was “tortured”.
“They hit Imran’s head and leg…his wheelchair was additionally tossed apart throughout the arrest,” Gohar was quoted as saying by the paper.
Former minister and senior PTI chief Hammad Azhar stated that Khan’s arrest was “not acceptable” and asserted that the social gathering chief “is our crimson line”. He referred to as on the nation to take to the streets in opposition to Khan’s arrest.
PTI Secretary General Asad Umar tweeted {that a} six-member committee, headed by PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, would decide the following plan of action.
Khan has been dealing with a slew of circumstances since his ouster by means of a no belief vote in April final yr. He has rejected all these circumstances as political victimisation by the ruling alliance.
Currently, Khan has stated he’s dealing with over 140 circumstances associated to terrorism, blasphemy, homicide, violence, inciting to violence.