Pakistani police arrested several lawmakers and leaders of ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party in midnight raids. This came a day after it held a major rally in the capital to demand his release, the party and police said on Tuesday.
The former cricket star has been in jail for over a year since his ouster in 2022. He was jailed after a falling-out with powerful military generals. This has spawned the worst political turmoil in decades in an economically unstable 241 million people nation.
A police spokesman confirmed the detention of four individuals but gave no details of charges. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said nearly a dozen of its parliamentarians had been picked up in Islamabad. Others had sought refuge in parliament to evade law enforcers, it said.
“Assault on Democracy”
Its lawmakers protested in a session of the National Assembly on Tuesday. They were calling for action against what they alleged was the illegal entry of law enforcement personnel into the premises of parliament.
“Plain clothes people entered the parliament and arrested people’s representatives. This is an assault on Pakistan’s democracy,” PTI legislator Ali Muhammad said.
National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq announced that he would investigate the complaints. He said, if these actions are verified, it could result in legal action. He ordered all detained lawmakers to be returned to parliament.
Media footage showed police pushing the lawmakers into vehicles outside parliament. Omar Ayub Khan, the party’s leader of the opposition, called it “despicable”.
“Yesterday’s massive protest has sent shivers down the government’s spine,” Khan’s aide, Zulfikar Bukhari, said in a post on X, calling the detentions illegal.
Party chairman Gohar Khan was among those held, added Bukhari, who is also a party spokesman.
Violence At Rally
Candidates backed by the PTI won the most seats in a general election in February. However, they fell short of the majority required to form a government. Khan’s rivals cobbled together a coalition instead to set up a bloc under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The crackdown took place a day after the PTI rally held in Islamabad’s outskirts to demand Khan’s release was marred. The clashes between supporters and police that injured a senior police official.
The PTI said the violence began after police lobbed teargas canisters at a peaceful gathering in a bid to disperse it.
Some party leaders, such as Ali Amin Gandapur, chief minister of the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, criticised the ruling alliance and the military in speeches at the rally.
“Put your house in order,” he advised the military, warning against any attempt at a military trial for Khan. “I am not scared of the army uniform.”
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Gandapur had threatened to free Khan from jail by force and incited his supporters to engage in violence.
(with inputs from Reuters)
