Imran Khan Arrest LIVE Updates: SC to Hear Ex-PM's Plea Shortly, Bilawal Urges PTI 'to Not Make Matters Worse', 1,900 Held

Former prime minister Imran Khan has gone from being the chosen one to a thorn in the side of Pakistan’s military — long considered the nation’s political power brokers. His arrest this week — after delivering another broadside against a senior intelligence officer — marks an escalation in the duel between Khan’s staggering popular appeal and the army’s vast influence. “What he has done is say the quiet bits out loud and has broken down some of the taboos around directly criticising Pakistan’s establishment, and its military specifically,” said analyst Elizabeth Threlkeld at the US-based Stimson Center. READ MORE

A Supreme Court bench will hear former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s plea against his arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case at 2 pm on Thursday. The 3-member bench will comprise Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah, Dawn reported.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari urged Imran Khan’s party PTI to “not make matters worse” and to call for an end to violent protests. “Their reaction is completely unjustified. It is violent and has created a situation in which serious conversations need to be had. But the only advice I can give to PTI is that what you have done is done, those who were involved will have to give answers,” Bhutto said.

The UK has reacted to the clashes in Pakistan following former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest and said it is an internal matter of Islamabad. The US also said that it is aware of the ongoing crisis in the country, but refused to take any sides in the matter. UK PM Rishi Sunak said that the arrest of former PM Imran Khan is an internal matter of Pakistan. Meanwhile, the US Department said that that the US is aware of Imran Khan’s arrest and added that the country is not in a position to choose sides in the political matter. READ MORE

A top IT body in Pakistan has called on the government to restore the internet services in the country that were suspended in the wake of violent protests erupting after the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan. People in Pakistan have resorted to using various VPN services after the interior ministry directed the Pakistan Telecom Authority to suspend internet services and also some social media platforms on Tuesday. The Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA), the sole representative body of IT and IT-enabled services in Pakistan, criticised the government’s decision to suspend all internet services.

The political crisis engulfing Pakistan is eroding hopes that the South Asian country can get its much needed programme with the International Monetary Fund back on track soon and escape a full-blown debt crunch, analysts said. Deadly clashes between supporters of Imran Khan and police spread across the country after Pakistan’s anti-corruption agency arrested the former prime minister on Tuesday. The rupture in Pakistan’s febrile politics comes as the 230-million-population nation prepares to hold tightly fought elections in the autumn while facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with dwindling reserves and a stalled $6.5 billion IMF programme that is expiring in June and scarce other financing sources in sight. READ MORE

At least eight people have been killed and 290 injured so far in the violent protests across Pakistan after the arrest of Imran Khan. Over 1,900 enraged protesters have been rounded up in running battles with law enforcers across the country, Dawn reported.

UK PM Rishi Sunak said that the arrest of former PM Imran Khan is an internal matter of Pakistan. He further said the UK is monitoring the situation in Pakistan carefully after the former prime minister was arrested in Islamabad.

Former Pakistan Foreign Minister and PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi was arrested by the Islamabad police on Thursday and transferred to an unknown location. Qureshi’s arrest comes a day after senior PTI leader and party’s Senior Vice-President Fawad Chaudhry was arrested outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad on Wednesday. READ MORE

Former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari condemned the violence across the country after Imran Khan’s arrest and called them regrettable and shameful. Zardari said Imran Khan, who was arrested in a corruption case, should face the courts instead of running away.

Former prime minister Imran Khan has gone from being the chosen one to a thorn in the side of Pakistan’s military — long considered the nation’s political power brokers. His arrest this week — after delivering another broadside against a senior intelligence officer — marks an escalation in the duel between Khan’s staggering popular appeal and the army’s vast influence. “What he has done is say the quiet bits out loud and has broken down some of the taboos around directly criticising Pakistan’s establishment, and its military specifically,” said analyst Elizabeth Threlkeld at the US-based Stimson Center.

Former Pakistan Foreign Minister and PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi was arrested by the Islamabad police and transferred to an unknown location. “Tehreek-e-Insaf Vice Chairman Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi has been arrested by the Islamabad Police and transferred to an unknown location,” the party tweeted on Thursday. Qureshi is wanted by the police in cases of riots and arsons in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Former US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad condemned the arrest of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and said that the PTI chief should be released from detention. He also expressed concern that there is a growing fear that Imran Khan might be killed in custody. He added that the former prime minister has also expressed this concern to the judge before the court on Wednesday.

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was arrested on Tuesday in a dramatic turn of events, is likely to remain in the custody of anti-graft agency for “four to five days”, a report has said. “We will do our best to keep him under custody for at least four to five days,” a source told Dawn on Wednesday. Under new amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, the duration of physical remand has been cut from 90 days to 14 days, granted by any court.

Pakistan Army’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has termed the events that unfolded on May 9 as a “black chapter” in the country’s history. The ISPR in a statement issued in Urdu on Wednesday referred to the protests that were held after the arrest of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. The ISPR said that the protests particularly targeted army property and installations. ISPR asserted that no one will be allowed to take the law into their own hands.

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan told an accountability court here on Wednesday that he feared for his life and was afraid that he will meet the same fate as Maqsood Chaprasi, a key witness in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s money laundering case who died last year. Khan, 70, appeared before the accountability court at the Police Lines Headquarters in H-11/1 Islamabad on Wednesday, a day after he was dragged from the Islamabad High Court and arrested, sparking widespread clashes between his supporters and police.

Imran Khan’s party PTI has issued a rebuttal to the Pakistan army media wing’s statement that criticised the protests “targeting army property and installations” following Imran Khan’s arrest. The PTI said that the Inter-Services Public Relations’ statement was “contrary to facts” and “based on a poor understanding of ground realities”. “The statement is a sad collection of hatred and revenge-based narratives against the most reliable, popular and largest political party of Pakistan,” it added.