Imran Khan’s Arrest: Ex-PM’s Supporters Storm Pak Army HQ, Torch Buildings; Schools Shut | Key Points

Massive violent protests erupted on Tuesday evening in several cities across Pakistan after former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested during his appearance before the Islamabad High Court for one of the dozens of cases pending since he was ousted last year.

In unprecedented scenes, the supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Khan stormed the Army headquarters in Rawalpindi and the Corps Commander’s residence in Lahore.

The cricketer-turned-politician, who travelled from Lahore to Islamabad, was undergoing a biometric process at the court premises when the paramilitary Rangers broke open the glass window and arrested him in a corruption case after beating lawyers and the leader’s security staff.

Here are some key points on protests across Pakistan over Imran Khan’s arrest:

• The 70-year-old leader’s sudden arrest came after months of political crisis and hours after the powerful military rebuked him for alleging that senior intelligence officer Major-General Faisal Naseer had been involved in a plot to assassinate him last year during which he was shot in the leg.
• Protesters at several places turned violent and burned police vehicles and damaged public property.
• Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse Khan supporters in Karachi and Lahore, while protesters blocked roads in the capital Islamabad, Peshawar, and other cities.
• Local TV channels showed Khan being manhandled by dozens of paramilitary Rangers, which operate under the Interior Ministry, into an armoured car inside the court premises.
• Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said Khan had been arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the country’s top anti-corruption body, and is in accordance with the law.
• Anticipating Khan’s arrest, PTI officials later released a pre-recorded video of him in which he urged supporters to come out in support of “true freedom”.
• In Peshawar, a mob razed the Chaghi monument — a mountain-shaped sculpture honouring the location of Pakistan’s first nuclear test.
• Access to Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media platforms have been restricted across Pakistan, said the global internet monitor NetBlocks.
• In Lahore, a large number of PTI workers stormed into the Corps Commander Lahore’s residence and smashed the gate and window panes. The city was virtually cut off from the rest of the province because of the protest on main roads including the entry and exit points.
• Section 144 was imposed in Pakistan under which not more than five people can gather at one point.
• Violent protests also spread to Karachi and Hyderabad in Sindh province and Balochistan’s Quetta where PTI protesters assembled outside Army cantonment areas.
• A spokesman of the Civil Hospital in Quetta, Wasim Baig, confirmed to news agency PTI that they had received the body of a man with gunshot wounds. “The dead body was brought from the airport road where protests have been taking place since afternoon,” he said, adding that several protesters and policemen with injuries were also brought to the hospital.
  (with inputs from agencies)

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