ISLAMABAD: Supporters of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan clashed with police in the federal capital of Islamabad on Friday as the city’s high court began hearing a case that will likely determine whether he will be freed or rearrested.
The popular opposition leader was brought before the same court, the Islamabad High Court, from where he was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau in connection with graft charges on Tuesday.
Khan’s detention unleashed days of violent demonstrations in which his supporters attacked military installations and state buildings, burned vehicles, and ambulances and looted general stores in various parts of the country.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled Khan’s arrest from the IHC premises illegal, and ordered that he be produced before the Islamabad High Court so it could reconsider its initial decision to uphold the arrest. The Supreme Court said it would respect Friday’s ruling by the Islamabad court.
The government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said it will re-arrest Khan if the Islamabad High Court upheld its earlier order.
“Imran Khan in Islamabad High Court,” his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party tweeted. Khan could be seen in many videos waving and making victory signs as he was led into the court.
As Khan was brought to the court amid an unprecedented deployment of security officials, Khan supporters clashed with police elsewhere in the capital, and the city’s main Srinagar Highway was completely blocked by police to keep Khan supporters from gathering.
This week’s clashes have left at least six people dead: one in the southwestern city of Quetta and five in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Thousands of people have been arrested and the government has called in the army to help restore order in Islamabad as well as the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Public gatherings are also banned in Punjab, KP and Islamabad.
Khan, who was ousted as prime minister last year in a parliamentary no-trust vote, faces more than legal 100 cases, with charges ranging from terrorism and sedition to corruption and inciting violence and threatening police and government officials. A new terrorism charge was filed against him and several top aides on Thursday for allegedly inciting his followers to violence after his arrest. Several of the key leaders of his party, including Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Asad Umar, Shireen Mazari and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, have been arrested.
Under Pakistan’s legal system, a defendant can seek protection from arrest in court hearings. Khan is vulnerable to arrests because he has not obtained such protection in all of the cases against him.
Following the Supreme Court’s release order Thursday, Khan spent a night at a government guest house in Islamabad, where he met with family members and aides. The country’s President Arif Alvi also had a meeting with him.
