A major political crisis unfolded in Pakistan after ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested outside the Islamabad High Court by paramilitary Rangers following a hearing in a corruption case on Tuesday. Protests broke out in several cities in Pakistan including Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi, Gilgit and Karak. Prohibitory orders were also imposed in many parts of the country.
Islamabad police, in a statement quoting Inspector General (IG) Akbar Nasir, said that Khan had been arrested in relation to the Al-Qadir Trust case involving billions of rupees obtained by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supremo and his wife during the previous PTI government, according to a report by Pakistan daily Dawn.
The arrest comes a day after the PTI chief took on the country's powerful army, accusing them of hatching a plot to kill him. Hours before leaving for the high court for an appearance in two separate cases, Khan took to Twitter to post a video reiterating that attempts were being made by the rival Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and its "handlers" to kill him.
Following his arrest, his party issued another pre-recorded video, in which Khan said "till the time these words of mine reach you, I will be arrested in a baseless case. This shows that fundamental rights and democracy in Pakistan have been buried."
The cricketer-turned-politician has been engulfed in many political controversies and faces a dozen charges after he was ousted from his premiership in April last year. Khan’s arrest comes just less than two months after raging protests by Khan’s supporters outside his residence in Lahore in view of a non-bailable arrest warrant issued against the cricketer-turned-politician in corruption related to the Toshakhana case.
A brief timeline of Imran Khan's political journey:
The former cricket star started his political journey in 1996, when he founded his party, The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Already popular among the crowd, Khan immediately gained recognition in the political circle. After many unsuccessful elections, Imran Khan’s party had a thumping victory in 2018 and he was elected as the prime minister. However, he faced the wrath of the Opposition and was eventually ousted in 2022 in a parliamentary no-confidence motion over allegations of "massive rigging".
He led two “long marches”, in May and October, to protest over his removal and continued gaining more popularity among his supporters. Soon, thousands of PTI supporters started thronging at Khan’s rallies.
The political tensions then worsened in November when he escaped an assassination attempt in Wazirabad district of north-eastern Punjab province during a public event and accused his successor and current Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the army commander over the incident.
The PTI supremo has also been amassing support to compel the government for an early vote.
Toshakhana case
On February 28, a district court in Islamabad issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Imran Khan after he skipped hearings in the Toshakhana case.
The case pertains to the Toshakhana department which is in charge of valuable gifts received by government officials. It was alleged that Khan received expensive gifts from rich Arab rulers during official visits that were deposited in the state repository Toshakhana. Later, he bought those at slashed rates following the law and further sold them at hefty profits. He was accused of hiding the proceeds from the sale of precious gifts.
On March 5, the police raided Khan’s Zaman Park residence in Lahore and arrested dozens of workers of his party and claimed to have seized weapons and petrol bombs, hours after he left for Islamabad.
They launched the "grand operation" at his house and removed all camps, and barricades erected there by the party activists to prevent his arrest in the Toshakhana case. The arrest warrants against Khan were eventually cancelled due to the chaos following clashes between police and PTI workers.
According to a report by Dawn quoting the PTI chief, more than a hundred cases — ranging from sedition to corruption — have been registered against him. An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan even approved his interim bail pleas for multiple cases, just hours before his arrest today.
Arrest in Al-Qadir case
Khan’s detention follows several unsuccessful attempts by the police to arrest him, as he managed to evade every time. He has been arrested in connection with the allegations that Bahria Town allotted land worth Pakistani Rupees 530 million to Al-Qadir Trust.
There are charges that Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, along with their close aides Zulfiqar Bukhari and Babar Awan embezzled billions of rupees from a real estate firm called Bahria Town for legalising a laundered amount of PKR 50 billion.
Pakistan authorities also maintained that while Khan was arrested by officials of the National Accountability Bureau specifically in this case, there were “dozens” of other cases with corruption inquiries in progress against the former PM.
The Pakistan government has long sought the arrest of the PTI supremo. Currently, Khan is facing over 140 cases related to terrorism, blasphemy, murder, violence, and inciting violence.
