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Following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the country’s most influential politician, his supporters stage protests and riots. The Government called on the Army this Wednesday, May 10, to help put an end to the demonstrations in some provinces, while clashes with the Police leave at least five people dead.
At least five people have lost their lives since the protests broke out on Tuesday, May 9, after a paramilitary force that reports to the Ministry of the Interior detained former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan as he was leaving an appointment with Justice of his country, in one of the many cases in which the political leader, dismissed from office since April 2023, has been implicated.
The most influential politician in the Asian nation was arrested under strange circumstances and in a violent way, for which he called on his followers to protest. Many have taken to the streets, assaulting and setting fire to state buildings and even looting the residence of a senior Army general.
In the midst of the crisis, the government authorized the deployment of military troops in two of the country’s four provinces and Khan’s main strongholds: Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as in the nation’s capital, Islamabad.
The Army, accused of maintaining deep political interests, as well as meddling in national politics, issued a statement in which it assured that attacks on the Armed Forces, state facilities and property would face “severe reprisals.”
The protesters reported to the French news agency AFP that they had been attacked by the authorities, including with firearms.
“We will stay here for a year if they don’t release our Khan and I will also take a bullet. There are many children who have been injured, some are being shot and in front of me a child was shot in the chest,” said Mahad Khan, a resident from Peshawar, the sixth largest city in the country, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the northwest of Pakistani territory.
Khan, in custody of the country’s anti-corruption body
After his arrest on Tuesday May 9 in the ‘Al-Qadir Trust’ case, which according to the Government amounts to some 177 million dollars and in which Khan and his wife are accused of having received land through a charitable trust , this Wednesday the former premier was placed in the custody of Pakistan’s anti-corruption body, the National Accountability Office, for eight days to be questioned, according to Ataullah Tarar, a government adviser.
The politician’s defense denounced ill-treatment against the former prime minister since his arrest. Khan “was injured in the head after being subjected to violence during his arrest,” his lawyer said, adding that he “was not allowed to sleep” and complained that he had been placed in a dirty room with a cot and that “he did not food was served.”
Since his ouster, Khan has been charged in several court cases. The former president denies any guilt and his supporters assure that it is a strategy to remove him from power.
Khan even stated in recent statements that an attack he suffered at the end of last year had been orchestrated by members of the Army, something that the military institution denies.
Political crisis adds to economic complications in Pakistan
In a separate case, a court charged Khan on Wednesday with selling gifts he obtained from foreign leaders during his four-year tenure. For these transactions, the defendant would have received around 630 thousand dollars.
Khan’s arrest comes at a time of deep economic crisis in the Asian country, with fuel shortages that have led to massive blackouts of up to 24 hours.
The population also faces high inflation and a deep devaluation of the local currency, the Pakistani rupee.
The nation requested a $6 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund in 2019. This should have helped solve future economic problems, but mismanagement, dragged from the Khan government, led the agency to stop disbursements due to lack of government payment guarantees.
With Reuters, AFP and EFE
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