More arrests made, army troops deployed in several cities of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD

More arrests were made on Thursday two days after Pakistan’s main opposition leader Imran Khan was arrested in a corruption case.

Army troops were deployed on the streets of the capital Islamabad in sign of heightened tensions in the South Asia nation.

The top leadership of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party was arrested including the country’s former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, former Finance Minister Asad Umar, and former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry.

The PTI urged its workers to come out in droves to protest on the streets against what it termed “tyranny.”

“Our dear Pakistanis, you must understand that if we don’t stand against this tyranny now it will be impossible in future. Come out today,” PTI tweeted from its official account.

The party claimed that 47 workers were killed in protests across the country on Wednesday and 2,000 others were arrested, but Anadolu could not independently verify the figures.

Hospital sources confirmed seven people were killed and over 100 wounded, while over 1,200 were arrested across the country.

Army, police and paramilitary troops were also deployed in the cities of Peshawar, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Mardan, with the government imposing colonial-era restrictions on the gathering of more than five people.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah warned of a “zero tolerance” approach for those who take law into their hands.

“There will be zero tolerance for those who take the law in their hands, we will not tolerate. We have directed the security forces to deal with the miscreants with an iron fist,” Sanaullah tweeted.

The government has also suspended mobile internet and blocked social media platforms across the country, with schools remaining shut in many parts of the country.

Top court likely to hear Khan case

Khan’s lawyers have already approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan and filed a petition for his release and the top court is likely to hear the case on Thursday.

“We have requested the Supreme Court to fix the case of illegal arrest of Imran Khan for today,” said Raja Aamir Abbas, Khan’s lawyer.

His legal team approached the top court on Wednesday after the Islamabad High Court declared Khan’s arrest from the court premises on Tuesday “legal”.

Allegations on Khan

Khan was arrested in a land scam case.

It is alleged that the cricketer-turned-politician and his wife Bushra Bibi received billions of rupees and a large piece of costly land to build an educational institution in return for releasing millions of dollars to a property tycoon in 2020.

Khan and his party leaders, however, deny the allegations.

Khan, who served as prime minister of Pakistan from 2018-2022, lost a vote of confidence in parliament last April, one year short of completing his term.

In November, he survived an assassination attempt during a rally.

Since then, Khan has fallen out with the country’s powerful army, and is facing a plethora of cases, which his supporters say are politically motivated.

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