In a late-night verdict, the high court declared Imran’s arrest in the Al Qadir Trust case legal after Chief Justice Aamer Farooq summoned senior officials of the administration to explain why the ex-PM was picked up from the court premises. Imran was at the high court for hearings in cases unrelated to the one in which he and his wife allegedly received kickbacks for helping a firm launder Rs 50 billion ($239m) through their trust.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters swarmed the streets of cities and towns across the country in a shock-and-awe backlash against their party chief’s arrest on the basis of a May 1 warrant issued by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Lt Gen Nazir Ahmed in the case. A party supporter in Quetta was killed and many others, some of them cops, were wounded in the rioting.
Armed personnel had dragged away 70-year-old Imran to the anti-graft watchdog’s office in Rawalpindi after breaking doors in the high court building, jumping through smashed windows and scuffling with PTI supporters and lawyers to reach him.
“Let this be abundantly clear that you, as former prime minister, currently on trial for corruption, are claiming legitimacy to overturn the legal and political system,” PM Shehbaz tweeted.
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As news spread of Imran’s dramatic arrest and the alleged assault on his lawyers, throngs of protesters ran amok in the garrison city and elsewhere, with videos circulating on social media showing a crowd breaking into the army’s general headquarters.
In Islamabad, hundreds of PTI activists blocked the main Kashmir Highway, leaving traffic stranded on either side of the road. Peshawar saw a mob setting ablaze a replica of Chaghi mountain that had been built as a monument to the site of the country’s 1998 nuclear tests.
In the southern port city of Karachi, PTI supporters rioted outside the local party office located along the busy Shahrah-e-Faisal Road. Army barricades were set on fire within several garrisons. The government suspended internet across the country as part of a rash of steps to stem rumours and unrest.
Security personnel fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta and other parts of the country till late at night. Section 144, which bans demonstrations, failed to keep the crowds at bay.
“It is difficult to predict where this country might go within the next 12 to 48 hours. The atmosphere is vitriolic, nebulous, and very uncertain at the moment,” analyst Zeeshan Salahuddin said.
Interior minister Rana Sanaullah alleged that Imran and his current wife Bushra Bibi Khan were paid billions by a real estate tycoon for legalising his laundered cash from the UK. “The money should have been deposited in the national treasury, but went into a property which was registered under the Al Qadir Trust,” he said at a presser.
The minister said the anti-graft agency NAB that ordered Imran’s arrest was “an independent institution, and we have never tried to control it”.
Imran may have got wind of his arrest hours before leaving for the court. “If someone has a warrant, they should directly bring it to me. Bring the warrant, my lawyer will be there. I am ready to go to jail myself,” the PTI chief said.
Barrister Gohar Khan, Imran’s counsel, alleged that the ex-PM was “tortured” in custody. “They hit him in the head and legs,” he said, adding the PTI chairman’s wheelchair was flung away by the troops.
Gohar also alleged that the security personnel used pepper spray and tear gas during the operation.
Interior minister Sanaullah contested the allegations. “No torture was inflicted on him (Imran),” he tweeted.