Former Pakistan PM taken into custody from outside Islamabad High Court


Imran Khan Arrest Live Updates: Former Pakistan PM has been arrested in connection with the allegations that Bahria Town allotted land worth PKR 530 million to Al-Qadir Trust, owned by the PTI chairman and his wife, Dawn reported

Imran Khan Arrest LIVE Updates: Former Pakistan PM taken into custody from outside Islamabad High CourtFormer Pakistan PM Imran Khan was taken into custody by the Rangers on Tuesday from outside the Islamabad High Court. (Source: Twitter/ @PTIofficial)

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was on Tuesday arrested by paramilitary forces Rangers from outside the Islamabad High Court, Dawn reported. According to Fawad Chaudhry, the official spokesperson of Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf,  the ex-PM has been “abducted from Court premises. Scores of lawyers and general people have been tortured.”

Khan has been arrested in connection with the allegations that Bahria Town allotted land worth PKR 530 million to Al-Qadir Trust, owned by the PTI chairman and his wife, Dawn reported quoting Islamabad police. “Khan has been whisked away by unknown people to an unknown location,” Chaudhry said, adding that the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court has ordered Secretary Interior and the IG police to appear in the court within 15 minutes.

Khan has been facing a clutch of cases since his ouster through a no trust vote in April last year. At present, he is facing over 140 cases related to terrorism, blasphemy, murder, violence, inciting to violence. However, he has rejected all these cases as political victimisation by the ruling alliance.

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Imran Khan News Live Updates: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was arrested by the paramilitary forces from outside the Islamabad High Court. Follow this space for the latest updates.

Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan is seen speaking during a rally in Lahore, Pakistan. (AP/March 26, 2023)

Khan’s arrest comes a day after the powerful army had accused the former prime minister of levelling baseless allegations against a senior officer of the spy agency ISI. TV footage showed the Rangers grabbing Khan from the collar and bundling him into a prison van.

Khan has been implicated in over one hundred cases since his ouster from power in April last year. He was removed as PM after losing a no-confidence vote, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China, and Afghanistan.

The police, in the month of March, had reached Khan residence in Lahore to arrest him. Although, later, the police said that Khan was “unavailable” for being arrested, the 70-year-old politician addressed his supporters and party workers. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief said he had never “bowed before any man or institution, and will never let you do so as well”.

On February 28, the former Prime Minister was supposed to be indicted in the Toshakhana case but his lawyers requested to exempt him from appearing as he had to go to several other courts. The judge, however, rejected the plea and issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Imran. The 70-year-old politician’s indictment was deferred twice before, Dawn reported.

What is the Toshakhana case? What did the ECP say about the case? Read our explainer here.

  • The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.

First published on: 09-05-2023 at 15:09 IST



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