ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The arrest of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on corruption charges sparked demonstrations Tuesday, in an escalation of the confrontation between the popular opposition politician and the country’s civilian and military leaders.
Protests by Mr. Khan’s supporters erupted in towns across the country, as demonstrators clashed with police, blocking roads amid dozens of arrests. The authorities partially restricted access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, according to digital rights groups, in an apparent attempt to quell videos of the protests and hinder their organizers.
Mr Khan’s ousting from office just over a year ago triggered spiraling instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan and his arrest threatens to exacerbate the political and economic turmoil. The former prime minister has campaigned for new elections, drawing big crowds on the streets and a wave of support across the South Asian nation.
Mr. Khan was detained on Tuesday as he arrived at an Islamabad court to appear for a hearing in another case. The government has brought dozens of cases against Mr Khan—allegations that he says are politically motivated—as he has staged a relentless campaign of rallies across the country and called for fresh elections. Tuesday’s arrest was the first time Mr. Khan had been detained since being thrown out of office.
The former cricket star turned politician was removed from office in April 2022 after he lost the backing of the country’s powerful military and failed to win a confidence vote in Parliament. Pakistan has had four military dictatorships, the most recent of which ended in 2008, but even when not formally in power, the army still seeks to control policy, analysts say.
Video footage showed Mr. Khan, who currently leads opinion polls in Pakistan, being bundled into a pickup truck Tuesday by security personnel in riot gear. He was then driven away, with security personnel hanging off the vehicle.
“This is the law of the jungle,” said Iftikhar Durrani, a spokesman for Mr. Khan’s party. “This country is heading towards authoritarianism. We are fearful for the life of Imran Khan.”
Protesters backing the former prime minister took aim at the military in the hours after his detention, breaching the gates of the army’s headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi and the home of the top general in the eastern province of Punjab. Mr. Khan’s party called for demonstrations to remain peaceful.
The former prime minister accuses the government of obfuscating over the date of national elections, due by October. Regional ballots this year haven’t taken place in the period required under the constitution. His party says that the government and the military plan to jail and disqualify Mr Khan from politics before they hold an election—or kill him.
Rana Sanaullah Khan, Pakistan’s interior minister, said that the opposition leader was arrested under anticorruption laws. He denied allegations from Imran Khan’s party that their leader was beaten during the arrest.
“This is not political victimization,” Mr. Khan, the interior minister, said at a news conference Tuesday. “This is the rule of law.”
The government says that Mr. Khan was arrested by an independent law-enforcement body that tackles corruption.
0 comments:
Post a Comment