The previous prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan might be held for eight days, a courtroom dominated on Wednesday, a day after the favored opposition chief was dragged from a courtroom and arrested on corruption costs.
Mr Khan’s arrest on Tuesday set off violent clashes involving his supporters and police in a number of cities, together with Islamabad, that left at the least six folks lifeless.
Following a cupboard assembly, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif denounced the assaults on public property and navy installations, and he permitted the deployment of troops within the capital of Islamabad, within the nation’s most populous province of Punjab, and within the risky northwest, in line with a authorities assertion.
Within the newest unrest, hundreds of protesters stormed a radio station and workplaces of the state-run company within the northwestern metropolis of Peshawar.
Following the PM’s declaration, navy forces have been mobilised and greater than 1,000 protesters arrested throughout unrest throughout the nation.
The Radio Pakistan constructing burns in Peshawar
(EPA)
Mr Khan, 70, the previous all-rounder and captain of the Pakistan cricket crew, was ousted in a no-confidence vote final 12 months however stays the nation’s hottest opposition determine.
He says the instances in opposition to him – which embody corruption and terrorism costs – are a politically motivated plot by his successor, Mr Sharif.
His supporters clashed with police in a number of cities, together with Quetta, Karachi, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Lahore. Daybreak reported that cell web providers have been restricted nationwide for a number of hours whereas Twitter, Whatsapp and Fb continued to be blocked.
Colleges, faculties and different larger instructional establishments have been additionally closed throughout Pakistan on Wednesday.
As protests raged, the tribunal turned Mr Khan over to the custody of Pakistan’s anti-corruption physique, the Nationwide Accountability Bureau (NAB), for eight days for additional questioning, authorities adviser Ataullah Tarar stated.
It follows a ruling by the nation’s Election Fee that he illegally offered state items between 2018 and 2022. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The corruption case is one in every of greater than 100 registered in opposition to Mr Khan after he left workplace. In most, he faces being barred from holding public workplace if convicted.
He was at Islamabad Excessive Court docket on a separate matter on Tuesday when paramilitary officers stormed the constructing, smashing home windows to realize entry in dramatic scenes captured on video.
Mr Khan’s authorized crew has challenged the arrest in an Islamabad courtroom and is contemplating doing the identical on the nation’s Supreme Court docket.
Imran Khan recovering from an assassination try final 12 months
(AP)
His supporters attacked the navy’s headquarters within the garrison metropolis of Rawalpindi close to the capital, however didn’t attain the primary constructing housing the workplaces of military chief Basic Asim Munir.
Different demonstrators tried to succeed in the prime minister’s residence in Lahore, however have been pushed off by baton-wielding police. Others attacked automobiles carrying troops and hit armed troopers with sticks.
Law enforcement officials have been deployed in power throughout the nation, and positioned transport containers on a highway resulting in the sprawling police compound in Islamabad the place Mr Khan was being held and the place he appeared earlier than a choose on the short-term courtroom positioned there for safety causes, in line with the federal government.
Amnesty Worldwide stated it was alarmed by studies of authorities blocking entry to web networks and social media. It urged authorities to indicate restraint, saying clashes between regulation enforcement and Mr Khan’s supporters danger human rights violations.
Reuters and Related Press contributed to this report
