“What the eternal enemy of the country could not do for seventy-five years, this group (referring to PTI), wearing a political cloak, in the lust for power, has done:”
-Pakistan Army statement on protests in the aftermath of Imran Khan’s arrest
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested and dragged from court Tuesday as he appeared to face charges in multiple graft cases, a dramatic escalation of political tensions that sparked violent demonstrations by his angry supporters across the country.
The arrest of Khan, who got ousted in no-confidence motion in April 2022 but remains the leading opposition figure to the party, represented the latest confrontation to roil Pakistan, which has seen former prime ministers arrested over the years and interventions by its powerful military.
“Let this be abundantly clear that you, as former prime minister, currently on trial for corruption, are claiming legitimacy to overturn the legal and political system,” Sharif tweeted after Khan’s arrest.
At least one person was reported killed in clashes between protesters and the military in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, with another five people wounded there, while about 15 injuries were reported amid similar violence in Karachi, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Lahore. Police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrations. Khan was removed from the Islamabad High Court by security agents from the National Accountability Bureau, said Fawad Chaudhry, a senior official with Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, and then shoved into an armored car and whisked away.
