(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Pakistan arrests former prime minister Imran Khan [1]

['Shaiq Hussain', 'Rick Noack', 'Haq Nawaz Khan']

Date: 2023-05-09

Video from local broadcasters showed the moment former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was arrested by a paramilitary force in Islamabad on May 9. (Video: Reuters)

Listen 3 min Comment on this story Comment Gift Article Share

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s main opposition leader and former prime minister, Imran Khan, was arrested Tuesday, authorities said, raising the stakes of the country’s political crisis and sparking clashes between his supporters and police. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia’s war in Ukraine. ArrowRight Footage showed demonstrations across the country. Tear gas and water cannons were reportedly deployed against Khan supporters in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and other cities.

Pakistani authorities said Khan was arrested in a corruption case that has been evolving for months. The former prime minister stands accused of money laundering and faces a number of other charges in separate cases, all of which he has rejected.

Pakistani authorities said they had unsuccessfully sought Khan’s cooperation in the corruption probe. He was subsequently arrested by officers on high court premises in the capital, Islamabad, where he was to attend hearings linked to different cases on Tuesday.

Footage distributed by Khan’s party showed the opposition leader being pushed into a law enforcement vehicle. Officials said the arresting officers — members of a paramilitary force — were operating on a warrant from the country’s anti-corruption watchdog.

They denied accusations from Khan’s allies that the former prime minister was beaten during his arrest. Neither side immediately provided evidence to back its claims.

Members of Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or Movement for Justice, say they suspect political motives behind the arrest. The government has repeatedly sought to delay key regional votes this year after Khan performed above expectations in by-elections last October.

Advertisement

The country’s deteriorating economic situation has become the top concern among many voters, with the current government and Khan trading blame over the root causes of the crisis. Financial experts fear that the country may be on the verge of defaulting on its international loans.

Khan, who was ousted as prime minister in April 2022, was arrested after public disputes with the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the country’s powerful military. Khan recently accused a senior officer of involvement in an assassination attempt against him in November, which he narrowly survived.

Khan has described himself for months as the victim of a plot, starting with what he says was a Western move to oust him last year. There have been several attempts to arrest him since, including one in March that resulted in fierce clashes and left many Pakistanis injured.

Advertisement

As he left his residence in the city of Lahore to attend the scheduled court hearings in Islamabad early Tuesday, Khan released a video message in which he said he is “ready to go to jail,” but added that the accusations against him are unsubstantiated.

Later, in a response to Khan on Twitter, Sharif, the prime minister, accused his predecessor of “blatant lies, untruths, U-turns, and vicious attacks on institutions.” He charged that Khan was bending “the judiciary to your whims and behaving as if rules don’t apply to you.”

Noack reported from Doha, Qatar, and Nawaz Khan from Peshawar, Pakistan.

GiftOutline Gift Article

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/09/pakistan-imran-khan-arrest/

Published and (C) by Common Dreams
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0..

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/