Protests break out across Pakistan after former premier’s arrest in graft case

KARACHI/PESHAWAR: Supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan poured into the streets across Pakistan on Tuesday, blocking main roads, disrupting traffic and chanting anti-government slogans after the cricketer-turned-politician was arrested in Islamabad.

Khan was picked up by paramilitary Rangers officials from the premises of the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday afternoon in the Al-Qadir Trust case, which relates to the purchase and transfer of land for a university in Punjab province.

Khan, ousted via a parliamentary vote in April 2022, blames Pakistan’s military and the ruling coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of colluding to remove him from power. Since his ouster, over 100 cases have been registered against Khan, with charges ranging from terrorism to sedition and corruption. Khan says the cases are politically motivated.

“You will have to come out for real independence,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf said on Twitter in a protest call to supporters. “The time has come that you will have to come out [on the streets] for the sake of your country.”

Asad Umar, a key Khan aide and former planning minister, said a six-member committee headed by another PTI leader, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, had been formed by Khan to announce the party’s plan of action in the event of his arrest.

LAHORE

In the city of Lahore, where Khan has been based since he was injured in an apparent assassination bid last year and where he grew up, supporters began to gather outside his residence in the Zaman Park neighborhood.

The party’s leadership also called on supporters to gather at Lahore’s Liberty Chowk area where the party has held several large rallies over the past year.

“All workers and supporters should come to Liberty Chowk at once,” a message shared in a WhatsApp group of the PTI party’s Lahore chapter, said.

A PTI post on Twitter showed scenes from the streets of Lahore:

Media reported party supporters had closed down Akbar Chowk, Peco Road, Main Canal Road and Faisal Town in Lahore. The demonstrators burnt tires and chanted slogans against the coalition government.

A statement issued by Lahore police said the city was on high alert and security across the city had been beefed up on the instructions of Lahore Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi.

“Nobody can be allowed to destroy peace in the city,” the statement quoted Rizvi as saying.

KARACHI

Scores of Khan supporters also took to the streets in Pakistan’s most populous city of Karachi, the country’s commercial hub, blocking the city’s busiest main road, Shahrah-e-Faisal, which leads to the airport. 

Police used tear gas shelling to push back supporters and get the road opened. There were reports of clashes between police and protesters in other parts of the city also. 

PESHAWAR

In the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, former federal minister and Khan aide, Zartaj Gul Wazir, led a group of supporters in Ghazi Ghat city, blocking traffic.

Scores of angry Khan supporters chanting slogans against the government also took to the streets in the provincial capital of Peshawar, where Khan’s party held power from 2013 until earlier this year. There were reports protesters pelted police with stones near Assembly Chowk, with police retaliating with tear gas shelling to disperse demonstrators. 

“Peshawar is taking to the streets. Today, you need to decide where you stand. Whatever city you’re in, get out,” Taimur Khan Jhagra, a prominent leader of the PTI from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, wrote on Twitter.

ISLAMABAD/RAWALPINDI

A large number of PTI supporters also gathered at Faizabad, the busiest connecting point between the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. There are also reports of a massive traffic jam on the Srinagar Highway in the capital, Islamabad.

QUETTA

Protests also broke out in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, at Airport Road where scores of PTI supporters gathered to demand Khan’s release. Airport road connects Quetta with Chaman and other districts in the province.

PTI’s senior leader in Balochistan, Abdul Bari Barrech, said the party would hold protests in all districts of the province and keep blocking major highways until Khan was released. 

“We are on the street not for Imran Khan or PTI but for Pakistan and we request all Pakistanis to come out for the better future of their children,” Barrech told Arab News.

GILGIT-BALTISTAN

Khan supporters also took to the streets in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, especially the Ghanche district, barricading a road in Khaplu Bazaar and burning tires.

With inputs from Saadullah Akhter in Quetta, Aamir Saeed in Islamabad and Nisar Ali in Ganche, Gilgit-Baltistan