Pakistan police fire teargas after protesters try to prevent arrest of Imran Khan
Police in Pakistan have employed water cannons and tear gas to disperse supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who gathered outside his house in a bid to prevent his arrest by officers.
Khan was removed from his position through a vote of no confidence in the previous year and has faced a sequence of legal battles as he advocates for early elections and his comeback to the office.
This marks the second occasion in recent weeks that police have been sent from Islamabad to Khan’s residence in Lahore in the east, to execute an arrest warrant, as he missed several court hearings linked to a corruption case, citing security apprehensions.
“We are here basically to execute the warrants and to arrest him,” Syed Shahzad Nadeem Bukhari, deputy inspector general of Islamabad police, told reporters outside Khan’s residence in Lahore on Tuesday.
Cops were met by at least 200 supporters of the former PM, some had sticks and were throwing stones.
Khan issued a video recorded from inside the house, sitting in front of Pakistan and PTI flags at a desk decorated with spent teargas canisters.
“I am telling the entire nation today that they are ready once again, they’re going to come again,” he said.
“They will teargas our people and do other such things, but you should know that they have no justification to do so.”
Videos online show several bloodied supporters and others struggling to cope with teargas.
“The way the police attack our people … there is no precedent for this,” Khan said.
Pakistan in grip of economic downturn
The former PM has been summoned to court to answer accusations he did not declare gifts received during his time as PM, or the profit made from selling them.
Pakistan is currently in the grip of a stark economic downturn, risking default if help cannot be secured from the International Monetary Fund.
The security situation in the country is also getting worse, following a series of deadly attacks on police headquarters, linked to the Pakistan Taliban.
An election is due no later than October 2023.
