Imran Khan Arrest LIVE Updates: Pak Taken Over by Crooks, Criminals, Says Ex-PM as Cops Block Road to Residence

Pakistan’s Punjab Police may launch a “grand operation” to arrest the “terrorists” allegedly holed up at Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence, Geo News reported citing sources.

Imran Khan’s party PTI tweeted that Pakistan has decided that it will no longer be afraid or bow down.

Imran Khan on Thursday submitted a written response to the National Accountability Bureau in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case. Khan was summoned by the graft watchdog earlier today. In the written response, Imran Khan said that it was not possible for him to appear before NAB Rawalpindi and join the investigation as he was in Lahore and in the process of obtaining bail in multiple cases.

Pakistan is heading towards an imminent disaster and it may face disintegration, former prime minister Imran Khan has warned as he accused the ruling coalition of hatching a conspiracy to pit the army against his party. In a video-link address from his Zaman Park residence here on Wednesday, the 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief said the only solution to end political instability was to hold elections.

Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan, who faces corruption charges, will not comply with a summons by the country’s powerful anti-graft agency to appear before it on Thursday for questioning, his party spokesman said. Khan was arrested on the charges on May 9 and later set free on court-ordered bail. A spokesman for the National Accountability Bureau, which has in the past investigated, put on trial and jailed all those who served as prime minister since 2008, said Khan had been summoned for investigation into the graft charges at the agency’s regional office in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad.

The Pakistani authorities on Thursday closed a road outside the former PM Imran Khan’s residence in Lahore.

Pakistan former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that the country has been taken over by “a bunch of crooks, criminals, duffers devoid of any ethics or morality.”

Pakistani police kept up their siege around the home of Imran Khan as a 24-hour deadline given to the former premier to hand over suspects allegedly sheltered inside was about to expire on Thursday. The siege and the authorities’ demand for the suspects, wanted in violent protests over Khan’s recent detention, has angered the former prime minister’s many followers and is raising concerns about more clashes between them and the security forces. Last week, Khan’s supporters attacked public property and military installations after he was dragged out of a courtroom and arrested. At least 10 people were killed in clashes with police across the country. The violence subsided only when Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered Khan’s release.

Pakistan is heading towards an imminent disaster and it may face disintegration, former prime minister Imran Khan has warned as he accused the ruling coalition of hatching a conspiracy to pit the army against his party. In a video-link address from his Zaman Park residence here on Wednesday, the 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: chief said the only solution to end political instability was to hold elections. “The PDM leaders and Nawaz Sharif, who is absconding in London, are least concerned whether the country’s constitution is desecrated, state institutions are destroyed or even Pakistan Army earns a bad name. They are looking for their vested interests of saving the looted wealth alone,” he said.

The Islamabad High Court on Thursday issued an order for the release of senior PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was detained by capital police last week. Several PTI leaders, including Mahmood Qureshi, had been arrested for ‘inciting violent protests’ following party chairman Imran Khan’s arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case last week.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Shireen Mazari and Malika Bokhari were on Wednesday arrested again, hours after they were released on Islamabad High Court’s orders. A report in Geo News said that Mazari was arrested by Punjab Police under Section 4 of the Maintenance of Public Order. Another PTI leader Maleeka Bokhari was also arrested after she was released from jail. The IHC had on Wednesday ordered the release of Bokhari.

Imran Khan, who has been summoned by National Accountability Bureau today, is likely to skip his appearance at the NAB and submit a written response to the questionnaire, Geo News reported. The report said that Imran Khan’s legal team has advised him not to appear in NAB in a personal capacity and instead submit a written response to the 20 questions asked in relation to the corruption case, which also involves a property tycoon.

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday alleged that the PTI is being targeted and its members arrested in an effort to prevent them from forming the next government. “Our democracy, our judiciary, our constitution and the rule of law has been made a complete mockery by the current fascist set up . Like our other leaders, Shireen Mazari after getting bail was rearrested and taken to another jail… And all this is being done to stop PTI forming the next government,” Khan said on Twitter.

The National Accountability Bureau has served summons to former Pakistan PM Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to join the investigation in the Al-Qadir Trust case today. A two-member NAB team served the summons at the Zaman Park residence, Dawn reported. However, a PTI leader said that the PTI chief has not yet decided to attend the NAB proceedings.

The interim government in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Wednesday claimed that some ’30 to 40′ terrorists are hiding at the Lahore residence of former prime minister Imran Khan, giving him an ultimatum of 24 hours to hand them over or face stern action. “We have received an intelligence report that some 30 to 40 terrorists who were involved in attacking the military installations, especially Lahore Corps Commander House on May 9, are hiding at Zaman Park residence of Imran Khan. We give an ultimatum of 24 hours to Khan and his party to hand them over to police or face stern action,” Punjab’s caretaker information minister Amir Mir said at a press conference.

Pakistan Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir said that “planned and orchestrated tragic incidents” of May 9, when the military installations were attacked, will never be allowed again at any cost. “No one will be allowed to disrespect our martyrs and their monuments. They are a source of inspiration and pride for the rank and file of the Armed Forces, Law Enforcement Agencies, Government officials and the people of Pakistan,” he said.

Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders on Tuesday said that rioters and their backers who attacked state assets and military installations to protest the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan will be tried under army laws. The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. It is an endorsement of the military, which said on Monday that the rioters and their handlers had been identified, and would be tried under army laws.

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said police had surrounded has his house and that his arrest was imminent. Khan was arrested last week by the anti-graft agency in a corruption case before a court granted him bail. His arrest had sparked violent protests across the nation, killing at least eight.