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Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, was detained on Tuesday May 9 while appearing in an Islamabad court in one of several cases brought against him since he was removed from power in April 2022, police said. Khan, whose relations with the country’s military are extremely tense, has been the subject of dozens of court cases since his removal from power last year.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who had just been reprimanded by the army for making “unfounded accusations”, was arrested on Tuesday May 9 as he appeared in an Islamabad court where he faces corruption charges.
Leaders of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party urged their supporters to take to the streets, but police warned that an order banning gatherings of more than four people was in force and would be strictly enforced. .
Local televisions showed scenes of shoving at the gates of the court, where hundreds of PTI supporters clashed with security guards.
“Imran Khan has been arrested in the Qadir Trust case,” announced the official Twitter account of the Islamabad police, referring to a corruption case.
Imran Khan has been the subject of dozens of court cases since his removal from power last year.
His arrest comes a day after the Army warned against “unfounded accusations” made by the former prime minister.
At a weekend rally in the eastern city of Lahore, Imran Khan again claimed that Major General Faisal Naseer, a senior intelligence official, was implicated in his assassination attempt in early November 2022. The former prime minister was shot in the leg.
“These fabricated and malicious allegations are extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable,” the Army’s Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) department said in a statement.
“This has been a consistent trend since last year. Army and intelligence officers are being targeted with innuendo and flashy propaganda to further political goals,” he added.
“Your accusations will not be tolerated”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whom Khan also accused of involvement in the assassination plot, stated: “Your accusations without any evidence against General Faisal Naseer and our intelligence agency officials cannot be allowed and will not be tolerated.” he said on Twitter.
Criticism of the military establishment is rare in Pakistan, where army chiefs wield considerable influence over domestic and foreign policy. They have long been accused of interfering in the rise and fall of governments.
The army’s warning illustrates the extent to which relations between Khan and the country’s powerful military have deteriorated.
The army initially supported him to come to power in 2018 before withdrawing its support, and Imran Khan was ousted by a vote of no confidence in Parliament in April 2022.
Since then, the politician has been pressuring the fragile coalition government to call early elections before October.
Rejection of the conclusions of the investigation
Officially, the attack on Imran Khan was the work of a lone gunman, who in a video released by the police confessed to the attack and is currently in custody.
These conclusions have been rejected by Khan, who points out that the authorities have rejected his attempts to file a first information report (FIR) with the police to identify the “real culprits”.
“There is no reason for me to make up facts,” the former prime minister said in a video posted on Tuesday.
The ISPR stated that it reserved the right to “take legal action against blatantly false and malicious statements and propaganda.”
Imran Khan has been the subject of dozens of legal proceedings since his ouster, a tactic used by several Pakistani governments to silence their opponents, analysts say.
Pakistan’s powerful military wields immense influence in the country and has staged at least three coups since independence in 1947, ruling for more than 30 years.
As the national elections in October approach, the courts are considering a myriad of actions to guarantee early voting in the provincial assemblies, which are often held at the same time.
Years of financial mismanagement and political instability have brought Pakistan’s economy to the brink of collapse, a situation made worse by a global energy crisis and devastating floods that left a third of the country under water last year.
with AFP
This article was adapted from its original in French
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