Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested in a court in Islamabad on Tuesday, said party members of the former Pakistani government leader, who faces several corruption charges.
Fawad Chaudhry, a senior party official of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, said Khan was detained at the courthouse on Tuesday by agents from the country’s anti-corruption agency.
The 72-year-old Khan was ousted as prime minister in a vote of no confidence introduced in Pakistan’s parliament in April 2022.
Claiming his removal was illegal and the result of a Western conspiracy, the former prime minister campaigned against the government of his successor, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, demanding early elections in the country.
Chaudhry said Khan was dragged from the courtroom and placed in a police car, noting that he was now in the custody of security forces.
The PTI official stated that his detention was in fact “a kidnapping”.
Pakistan’s independent television GEO broadcast footage of Khan being pulled by security forces towards an armored vehicle, which took him away.
After the former prime minister was taken away, clashes broke out between Khan supporters and the police.
Chaudhry said some of Khan’s lawyers and supporters were injured in the clashes, as were several police officers.
Khan’s party immediately filed a complaint with the Islamabad High Court, which requested a police report explaining the allegations for Khan’s detention.
Anti-corruption watchdog officials said arrest warrants had been issued for Khan last week in a separate corruption case, for which he was unable to secure bail.
Security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Khan will be arraigned before an anti-corruption court later today.
There were no further official statements from the government regarding Khan’s detention.
Khan arrived in Islamabad today from the neighboring city of Lahore, where he lives, to face charges before the Supreme Court in several corruption cases.
The former prime minister claimed that the lawsuits he faces, including terrorism charges, are a conspiracy by Sharif’s government to discredit him.
Khan has been involved in several corruption cases, but the politician has resisted arrests and avoided court hearings, citing his ill health and poor security after suffering injuries to both legs in an assassination attempt last November.
Source: DN
