Pakistani politicians have been repeatedly arrested and imprisoned in Pakistan since the country’s founding in 1947. But few have directly challenged the army, which has staged at least three coups and ruled the country for more than three decades.
The army was deployed in the Pakistani capital Thursday after the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan pending investigation, which caused two days of violent demonstrations by his supporters.
On Wednesday, a court decided to imprison Imran Khan pending investigation on corruption charges, after months of political crisis that led the former prime minister to launch a campaign against the army, which enjoys wide influence in the country.
Khan’s arrest and imprisonment angered his supporters from his party, the PTI party, who clashed with security forces in several cities and organized a march towards the army headquarters. Khan’s supporters accuse the army of orchestrating his overthrow last April, but the army denies any involvement.
At least seven officials of the PTI leadership were arrested on charges of orchestrating the protests, Islamabad police announced early Thursday. The government agreed on Wednesday to deploy the army in two provinces, one of which is Punjab – which includes the largest number of residents – and in the capital to re-impose security.
Islamabad police said that the army personnel entered the sensitive “red zone” in the capital, where government buildings are located.
At least six people were killed in protest-related incidents, police and medical sources said, while hundreds of police officers were injured and more than 2,000 people were arrested across the country, most of them in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, police said.
The Ministry of Interior ordered the internet to be cut off and restricted access to social networks, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, the Pakistan Telecommunications Agency announced. The authorities also ordered the closure of schools across the country and the cancellation of year-end exams.
Khan appeared before a special court on Wednesday. Ali Bukhari, one of his lawyers, told AFP by phone after a closed hearing, “The court decided to place Imran Khan in pretrial detention for eight days.”
Khan’s dispute with the army
Khan, who hopes to return to power and pressure the government to organize early elections before October, is appearing in a corruption case before a special court that met at the police headquarters amid heavy security.
These events constitute a dramatic escalation in the months-long political crisis in Pakistan, during which Imran Khan launched an unprecedented crackdown on the army.
Pakistani politicians have been repeatedly arrested and imprisoned in Pakistan since the country’s founding in 1947. But few of them have directly challenged the army, which has staged at least three coups and ruled the country for more than three decades.
Imran Khan, a former international cricket star who served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, remains very popular in Pakistan and says the dozens of cases filed against him after his removal from power are part of a campaign by the government and army to prevent him from returning to power.
Criticism of the army is rare in Pakistan, where its commanders wield wide influence in domestic and foreign policy.
During a large gathering at the weekend in Lahore, Khan accused the senior intelligence officer, General Faisal Naseer, of involvement in an assassination attempt in November, during which the former prime minister was shot in the leg.
However, according to the official version, this assassination attempt was carried out by a single gunman who confessed in a videotape broadcast by the police that he was the perpetrator of the attack, and he is currently under arrest.
The army issued a strong warning on Wednesday, stressing that it was exercising “maximum restraint”. “In its greed for power, this group has done what the country’s eternal enemies could not do 75 years ago,” he said in his statement.
He warned of a “strong reaction” to any attacks targeting state and army facilities, noting that the responsibility for this rests with “a group that wants to push Pakistan towards civil war.” Khan’s party rejected this statement, saying it “contradicts the facts and the situation on the ground.”
Khan has faced dozens of charges since his ouster in April, a tactic that analysts say successive Pakistani governments have used to silence their opponents. Khan could be barred from holding public office if convicted, which could lead to his exclusion from elections scheduled for later this year.
The army initially supported his rise to power in 2018, before withdrawing its support. Khan was then removed by a vote of no confidence in his government in parliament in April 2022.
