Pakistan Crisis Grows As Protests Continue, Army To Be Deployed In Punjab Province

NEW DELHI, May 10 (Bernama) -- Pakistan plunged deeper into political turmoil on Wednesday as former prime minister Imran Khan remained in police custody and protests continued across the country.

Scores of leaders and members belonging to Imran's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have been arrested in police raids nationwide as the government tries to control public anger over the popular leader's arrest.

The Pakistan army is being deployed in Punjab province, home to about half of the country's 230 million population in view of the deteriorating law and order situation, Pakistani television channels reported.

Imran was transferred to the Islamabad Police Lines headquarters on Wednesday morning for a hearing to face corruption charges.

Senior PTI leaders have condemned the 70-year-old politician's arrest as illegal and political vendetta.

Party vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said his colleagues, lawyers and the media were not given access to Imran, who was taken away by the paramilitary force from the Islamabad High Court premises on Tuesday.

Imran during Wednesday's hearing in a police facility, used as a temporary court, said he was shown the arrest warrant only after reaching the office of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), an anti-corruption agency.

Fresh protests were being organised in major cities such as Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Multan.

There have been unconfirmed reports of deaths and injuries during protests in the past 24 hours.

"Direct shots were fired, resulting in multiple casualties and injuries," the PTI said in a tweet.

Those arrested in the police crackdown include PTI secretary general Asad Umar and former Punjab province governor Omar Sarfaraz Cheema.

Asad was arrested from the Islamabad High Court premises.

Former National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Khan Suri said police raided his house and his wife was arrested during a protest in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Imran, who was prime minister for three and a half years before being ousted in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in April 2022, says his removal was part of a conspiracy to thwart Pakistan from pursuing an independent foreign policy and derail his anti-corruption drive.

The former cricketing hero's political rise is seen as a threat to their survival by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) controlled by former president Asif Ali Zardari's family and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, who is close to the Sharif family, in a recent media interview called Imran an "enemy" and admitted the seriousness of the political challenge from him.

"When we feel our existence is being threatened, we will go to a point where we will not bother whether a move is democratic or not," Sanaullah said.

Imran's party slammed his remarks as "incendiary" at that time.

With Imran's arrest, Pakistan's toxic political environment appeared to have taken a turn for the worse.

-- BERNAMA