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Former Pakistan PM Khan faces court after shock arrest prompts riots

Tempers appeared to have cooled, but there is a huge security presence across the capital, particularly outside the police lines where the special court will convene

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Police officers and supporters of Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan exchange stones during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan, on Tuesday. -- AP

By AFP

Published: Wed 10 May 2023, 9:21 AM

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan will appear Wednesday in a special court at the capital's police headquarters to answer graft charges, a day after his shock arrest prompted violent nationwide protests.

Khan's detention follows months of political crisis and came hours after the powerful military rebuked the former international cricketer for alleging that a senior officer had been involved in a plot to kill him.

Some protesters took out their wrath on the military, torching the residence of the corps commander in Lahore and laying siege to the army's general headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

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In Peshawar, a mob razed the Chaghi monument -- a mountain-shaped sculpture honouring the location of Pakistan's first nuclear test.

Police fought pitched battles with supporters of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in cities across the country for hours on Tuesday night.

Local media reported two deaths in those clashes.

Tempers appeared to have cooled on Wednesday morning, but there was a huge security presence across the capital, particularly outside the so-called police lines where the special court will convene.

Authorities also ordered schools shuttered across the country, and continued restricting access to social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

"At a time we are already struggling to feed our children, further uncertainty has been created," Farooq Bhatti, a van driver, told AFP in Rawalpindi Wednesday morning.

"The violence will not serve anyone... everyone will be affected... but I doubt the decision makers care."

Shah Mehmood Qureshi, vice chairman of the PTI, urged supporters to keep protesting in a "lawful and peaceful manner", adding party lawyers would file multiple appeals and petitions against Khan's arrest.

The charge that led to Khan's undoing Tuesday was brought by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the country's top anti-corruption body, which said he had ignored repeated summons to appear in court.

Khan has faced dozens of charges since being ousted in April -- a tactic analysts say successive Pakistan governments have used to silence their opponents.

He could be barred from holding public office if convicted, which would exclude him from elections scheduled for later this year.

Khan's arrest came a day after the military warned him against making "baseless allegations" after he again accused a senior officer of plotting to kill him.

The rebuke late Monday underscored how far Khan's relations have deteriorated with the military, which backed his rise to power in 2018 but withdrew its support ahead of a parliamentary vote of no confidence that ousted him last year.

"The senior army leadership is uninterested in repairing the rift between itself and Khan," said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Centre.

"So with this arrest it's likely sending a message that the gloves are very much off."

Reaction from abroad was swift.

The United States wants to "make sure that whatever happens in Pakistan is consistent with the rule of law, with the constitution," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday during a press conference with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in Washington.

"We want to see peaceful democracy in that country," Cleverly added.

AFP

Published: Wed 10 May 2023, 9:21 AM

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