Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan’s biggest opposition party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), claimed that the authorities’ attempt to detain him violates the law.
Police and Mr. Khan’s supporters have fought outside his home as they attempted to detain him in accordance with a court order. Mr. Khan is a former prime minister. He is charged with selling official gifts while still working for the government. He asserts that politics is what is driving the case.
When police tried to barge their way inside his complex on Tuesday in the city of Lahore, there was a heated scene outside. Following the hurling of bricks and stones by Mr. Khan’s supporters, police deployed tear gas to disperse them.
Mr. Khan, 70, volunteered to sign a pledge that he will show up in court on Saturday in Islamabad in a video address. He continued by mentioning the security issues created by the previous two extremist attacks on the court. Given that he had conditional bail in place until Saturday, Mr. Khan argued there was “no rationale” for police to detain him on Tuesday. Despite prior setbacks, he said, the administration was devoted to imprisoning him. He stated on Tuesday, “I’m mentally prepared that I’m going to be spending my night in jail.” I’m fully set for that; I don’t know how many nights.”
The ex-prime minister showed off what he claimed to be tear gas canisters that were purportedly fired at his home. To keep his party from standing in future elections, he claimed that the government was trying to have him jailed. They can’t stop my party from winning whether I’m in jail or out, he continued.
Government Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb claimed the arrest was in response to court orders to hold him in connection with corruption investigations and had nothing to do with the impending elections. She claimed that Mr. Khan was using his party members, women, and kids as human shields in order to avoid capture and incite violence.
After stepping down as prime minister in April of last year, he has kept up the pressure on Shehbaz Sharif by hosting rallies and delivering speeches calling for an early election rather than the ones that are planned for later this year. He holds Mr. Sharif responsible for an attempted murder that occurred at a protest in November and resulted in him suffering a knee injury.
The PTI chairman claimed today that the Islamabad police’s “true objective” is “to abduct and assassinate” him, not to make an arrest. Individuals on social media are posting images of supposedly police-fired empty firearm cartridges. Pakistan’s major cities, including Islamabad, Peshawar, Karachi, and Rawalpindi, have all seen protests since Khan urged his supporters to keep up the resistance against the ruling party.
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