Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested on Tuesday by paramilitary forces who entered a courthouse in Islamabad to arrest him on multiple corruption charges.
The dramatic and sudden arrest of the former cricket star-turned leader is the latest chapter in months of ongoing political unrest in the nuclear-armed nation after Khan was ousted last year.
According to court documents seen by CNN, Khan was arrested in Islamabad on charges brought by the National Accountability Bureau, the country’s anti-corruption agency.
He was submitting his biometrics for a court appearance when paramilitaries broke a window to get to him before arresting him, according to video shared with CNN by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI ) was made available.
In the video, paramilitary forces attacked the Islamabad High Court grounds before arresting Khan, who was wearing dark sunglasses and watched impassively as the chaos unfolded.
A separate video sent to CNN by PTI showed paramilitary troops piled out of cars and holding batons before the arrest.
PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry described Khan’s arrest as a “kidnapping” and said he was “taken by unknown persons to an undisclosed location”.
The 72-year-old Khan was ousted in a parliamentary vote of no confidence last year and has since led a popular campaign against the current government of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, accusing it of colluding with the military to remove him from office.
He faced a growing number of court cases filed against him and several arrest warrants were issued, leading to confrontations with his supporters.
Khan has faced multiple allegations of corruption during his tenure, which he denies as “biased”. He says the allegations against him are political in nature.
In March, the streets outside his Lahore home became something of a violent battle between police and his supporters after officers tried to arrest Khan for failing to appear in court on corruption charges.
Supporters hurled rocks and projectiles at police, while people set fires at Khan’s home after officers fired tear gas into the compound.
Police later cut power to Khan’s home and turned off neighborhood streetlights. The operation was eventually canceled.
Security guards escort Imran Khan, who is in a wheelchair in front of the Supreme Court in Islamabad on May 9. Private security personnel clear the way for a vehicle carrying Imran Khan to arrive in Islamabad for his court appearance on May 9.
Economic crisis
The cricket legend-turned-politician has accused Pakistani authorities of trying to arrest him in order to remove him from the pitch ahead of October’s general election.
“[The government]they are petrified that I will hold them accountable when I come to power,” Khan told CNN during the unrest outside his residence in March.
“They also know that even if I go to jail, we’re going to swing the election no matter what they do.”
Amid the ongoing political throng, Pakistan faces an acute economic crisis.
The government has been trying to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to resume a $6.5 billion lending program that has stalled since November to keep the economy afloat.
The fund has presented a set of conditions in exchange for the release of a $1.1 billion loan installment. These include the liberalization of the rupee exchange rate and tax hikes.
A third of Pakistan’s farmland was affected by last summer’s disastrous floods. According to the International Rescue Committee, 33 million people in Pakistan were affected by the severe flooding, which caused economic damage of US$40 billion.
Inflation has skyrocketed in recent months and ordinary goods are becoming increasingly unaffordable.
Pakistan’s CPI rose to a record 35% year-on-year in March, according to official figures.
March inflation numbers topped February’s 31.5%, according to the Bureau of Statistics, as prices for food, drink and transportation rose by as much as 50% year-on-year. Staples such as the price of flour, a staple of Pakistan’s diet, have doubled over the past year, according to the bureau.
According to a survey by Gallup & Gilani Pakistan, almost three-quarters of 2,000 respondents believe that the country’s economic situation has deteriorated over the past six months.