– by Asif Shahzad and Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam
Islamabad (Reuters) – Serious unrest is looming in Pakistan following the arrest of former Prime Minister and opposition leader Imran Khan.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Tuesday called on its supporters to shut down the country. “Your time has come people of Pakistan. Khan has always stood up for you, now it’s time to stand up for him,” PTI tweeted. In Kahn’s hometown of Lahore, hundreds of supporters followed the call and blocked streets, and the police were put on high alert. At least ten people, including six security forces, were injured in clashes in Quetta, according to city police. Demonstrators also stopped traffic in the port city of Karachi.
Khan was surrounded by riot police in riot gear on Tuesday outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad, grabbed his arm and led to a black van in which he was driven away. The broadcaster GEO TV reported that Kahn is to be brought before a court for corruption cases on Wednesday. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said Khan was arrested by the anti-corruption agency NAB after he ignored a subpoena. The former prime minister is accused, among other things, that a property developer accused of money laundering had given him and his wife land worth around $24.7 million. If convicted, Khan will not be allowed to run for political office in the elections scheduled for November. Khan denies the allegations.
KHAN REPEATEDLY CRITICIZED HIGH-RANK MILITARY EMPLOYEES
Khan’s arrest comes a day after the popular former cricket star repeatedly accused the former army chief of being behind his ouster. He also accused a high-ranking military officer of pulling the strings in a failed assassination attempt on him. The 70-year-old was overthrown in 2022 with a vote of no confidence. Since then he has been fighting for early elections. He was shot at a rally in November. In addition to high-ranking military officials, Khan also accuses the incumbent Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of ordering his assassination. Both deny the accusation.
The open confrontation between the government camp and the military on the one hand and the opposition on the other hand hits Pakistan in an already difficult situation. The population is suffering from the worst economic crisis in decades, inflation has reached record levels and economic growth is weak. A bailout package from the International Monetary Fund has been the subject of debate for months, although foreign exchange reserves are barely sufficient to cover a month’s imports.
The military is the most powerful institution in the country. Pakistan has been ruled by the military for almost half of its 75-year history. Three times a government of generals was overthrown in a coup. Khan and the military fell out in 2021 after years of close cooperation. Khan’s opponents and many critics claim that Khan was put in power by the military in the 2018 election.
(Written by Hans Busemann, edited by Birgit Mittwollen. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for politics and economics) or [email protected] (for companies and markets)