Pakistan
It is the second time in recent weeks that police have been dispatched to serve an arrest warrant on the former prime minister
Agence France-Presse
Wednesday 15 March 2023 at 02:27 GMT
Pakistani riot police have used water cannon and tear gas to push back supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan who had gathered outside his home to prevent officers from arresting him.
Khan was forced out of office by a no-confidence vote last year and has been embroiled in a series of legal cases while campaigning for early elections and his return to office.
It is the second time in recent weeks that police from the capital Islamabad have been dispatched to Khan’s home in the eastern city of Lahore to serve an arrest warrant after he missed several court dates related to a corruption case, citing security concerns.
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“We are essentially here to execute the warrants and arrest him,” Islamabad Police Deputy Inspector General Syed Shahzad Nadeem Bukhari told reporters outside Khan’s residence in Lahore on Tuesday.
Officials were greeted by at least 200 Khan supporters, some brandishing sticks and hurling rocks draped in the red and green flags of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
Police fired a water cannon and tear gas at the crowd as they tried to clear a path to Khan’s home and held signs with the arrest warrant for the 70-year-old opposition leader.
Khan recorded a video message from inside the house, which he published on Twitter.
“The police came here to put me in jail,” he said. “They believe that if Imran Khan goes to prison, the nation will fall asleep.”
PTI Deputy Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters in Lahore that “we want to be peaceful”.
Qureshi insisted the police should hand him the warrant and said he would “try to find a solution to avoid bloodshed.”
Khan has been summoned to answer allegations that he failed to declare gifts or profits received while he was prime minister.
Officers’ first attempt to arrest the former cricket superstar was thwarted because he was “unwilling to surrender,” police said, without giving further details.
Khan has pressured the coalition government that replaced him, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, with popular rallies and daily speeches.
He was shot in the leg during a demonstration last year, an assassination he blamed on Sharif.
As the political melodrama unfolds ahead of an election no later than October, Pakistan is in the grip of a severe economic downturn and risks defaulting if the International Monetary Fund cannot get help.
The security situation is also deteriorating with a series of deadly attacks on police headquarters linked to the Pakistani Taliban.
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