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Pakistan Unleashes Troops on Protesters Enraged Over Imran Khan’s Arrest

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Pakistan Unleashes Troops on Protesters

Pakistan’s military backed government unleashed the army on protesters following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was dragged from a courtroom and ordered held for another eight days on new corruption charges that outraged his supporters and deepened the country’s political turmoil.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif stated in a speech to the nation that Khan’s followers damaged public and private property,” causing him to deploy the military in Islamabad, Punjab’s most populous province, and volatile northwest regions.

Following Khan’s arrest on Tuesday, protesters in Islamabad and other major cities blocked roads, battled with police, and set fire to police checkpoints and military facilities, resulting in six deaths and hundreds of arrests. Protesters attacked a radio station in the northwest city of Peshawar on Wednesday.

“Such scenes were never seen by the people of Pakistan,” Sharif stated after a Cabinet meeting. “Even patients were taken out of ambulances, and ambulances were set on fire.”

He called such actions “unforgivable,” and warned that anybody who participated in violence would face exemplary punishment.

Sharif stated that Khan was detained due to his involvement in corruption and that there was proof to back up these allegations.

Khan, who was deposed by Sharif in a no-confidence vote last year, is being kept at an Islamabad police facility. A judge in the city’s interim court ordered the 70-year-old politician imprisoned for at least another eight days, raising the potential of further turmoil.

Pakistan civil war

The military also issued a sharply worded statement, threatening anybody attempting to drag Pakistan into a “civil war.” The organised attacks on its installations were described as a “black chapter” in the country’s political history.

“What the country’s eternal enemy could not do for 75 years, this group, wearing a political cloak, in the lust for power, has done,” the statement read, adding that forces had displayed restraint but would respond to any more attacks, and those involved would bear responsibility.

It stated that “strict action” would be taken against individuals who planned or participated in attacks on military installations. It did not specifically mention Khan in its remarks.

Khan’s dramatic arrest on Tuesday — he was dragged from a hearing in Islamabad’s High Court on one set of charges, only to be arrested on another — was the latest clash to engulf Pakistan. He is the seventh previous prime minister to be detained in the country, which has also seen military involvement over the years. The action comes at a time when the cash-strapped country is attempting to avoid default.

Khan appeared in Islamabad on various graft charges made by police. As he entered, the courtroom was attacked by dozens of anti-corruption agents backed by paramilitary personnel from the National Accountability Bureau. After Khan’s guards refused to open the door, they smashed the windows.

Imran Khan Arrested Pakistan

The former cricketer has described the proceedings against him, which include corruption and terrorist charges, as a politically driven scheme by his successor, Nawaz Sharif, to prevent him from regaining power in elections later this year.

Fawad Chaudhry, Khan’s deputy and vice president of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, was also arrested outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad on Wednesday. Chaudhry, a vocal government opponent, had claimed on legal immunity from arrest, and the police had not specified the allegations.

Although the party has urged for calm, the country is on high alert. Police were out in force, and shipping containers were erected across a road leading to the enormous police compound in Islamabad where Khan was being kept. Despite this, demonstrators stormed and burned down the office of a senior police official in charge of the security of police buildings, including the one where Khan is being kept, on Wednesday evening.

According to police official Naeem Khan, his supporters invaded a building holding Radio Pakistan, smashing equipment and setting it flames. He claimed that some employees were stuck inside, and that police were attempting to restore order.

The local authority in eastern Punjab province urged the army to intervene after 157 police officers were hurt in skirmishes with demonstrators, according to authorities.

Since Tuesday, police have arrested 945 Khan followers, including Asad Umar and Sarfraz Cheema, two top officials of his party.

Imran khan in court

GEO television in Pakistan aired footage of Khan’s appearance before a judge in the police facility, showing him seated in a chair and holding paperwork. He appeared to be relaxed but fatigued.

Khan was charged in the new allegations of taking millions of dollars in property in exchange for providing favours to a real estate mogul. The National Accountability Bureau requested that he be held for 14 days, but the tribunal only granted him eight.

Khan was eventually indicted in the initial graft case in which he appeared in court in Islamabad on Tuesday, pleaded not guilty. In that case, he was charged with many counts of graft by Islamabad police.

Khan’s lawyers have disputed his arrest in Islamabad and are considering bringing the case to the country’s Supreme Court.

Former officials, including former prime ministers, legislators, and retired military personnel, have been imprisoned and probed by the National Accountability Bureau. However, some see it as a tool used by those in authority, particularly the military, to repress political opponents. When Khan was in power, his government used the agency to arrest Shahbaz Sharif, the opposition leader at the time. When Sharif deposed Khan, he faced many corruption allegations, which were later dropped due to a lack of evidence.

Pakistan mobs

Mobs enraged by the spectacular arrest set fire to the home of a key army general in the eastern city of Lahore, while supporters attacked the military’s headquarters in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. They did not make it to the main structure, which houses army leader Gen. Asim Munir’s offices.

Protesters also attempted to enter the Prime Minister’s mansion in Lahore, but were stopped by police. Others attacked troop trucks with sticks, striking armed soldiers.

By the morning, authorities in Lahore reported that some 2,000 demonstrators remained encircling Lt. Gen. Salman Fayyaz Ghani’s fire-damaged mansion. “Khan is our red line,” they chanted, “and you have crossed it.” Ghani and his family were relocated to a safer location on Tuesday.

The disturbance is caused by a lack of funds. Pakistan is battling to avert a default due to stalling talks with the International Monetary Fund to resurrect a bailout. The rupee traded at a record 290 to the dollar on Wednesday, despite a weekly inflation rate of at least 46%, also a record.

“Political stability is linked to economic stability, and I don’t see any signs of revival of the economy,” said Shahid Hasan, a former economic adviser to Pakistan. He suggested that political leaders put their egos aside and “sit together and think about Pakistan, which is on the verge of default.”

During the unrest, Pakistan’s telecommunications administration restricted social media platforms such as Twitter. The authorities also turned off the internet in Islamabad and other places. Some private school classes were cancelled on Wednesday, while several social media sites remained inaccessible.

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