Police Try to Arrest Imran Khan As Pakistan Braces for Protests
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Pakistani police said former premier Imran Khan was evading arrest at his residence in Lahore after a court order while his close aides warned of a standoff between security forces and his supporters at the scene.
Khan, 70, has drawn tens of thousands to his rallies in recent months and his arrest could bring them to the streets, posing a major distraction for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government that’s racing to secure bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund.
Khan and his party have been demanding early elections and in the past have said they will court arrest to push their demand for a snap poll. Sharif has dismissed their demands, saying his government will complete its term that ends in August this year.
A team arrived at Khan’s private residence to arrest him on Sunday but he wasn’t immediately found, police officials said. Akbar Nasir Khan, the inspector-general of the Islamabad police, told local media that Khan has to be presented before the court on March 7.
“The police must arrest him,” the police official told ARY Television. “We appeal to the people not to hinder the legal process.”
An official from Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party said the former cricket star was still at his residence, which was surrounded with tents put up by supporters in the past few weeks to defend their leader in the event of an arrest. Party leaders are taking to social media to urge supporters to gather at Khan’s home.
“Attempting to arrest Imran Khan on fake and flimsy cases will be extremely destabilizing in a system that is already under stress,” Hammad Azhar, a senior PTI leader, told Bloomberg News. “There will be countrywide protests.”
A Pakistani court issued an arrest warrant against Khan last week after he didn’t appear in a hearing for a complaint over his failure to declare his assets. The Election Commission had disqualified the former cricket star in October for allegedly hiding money earned from selling state gifts he received when he was prime minister. Khan has denied any wrongdoing.
Khan has been mostly confined to his home in Lahore since being shot and wounded in the leg during a street protest in November. He has blamed Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and a general in the country’s powerful spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, for the attack. All three have denied his allegation.
A police arrest will exacerbate political tension as the country struggles with a wide-spread economic crisis. Rating agencies have downgraded Pakistan deeper into junk on concerns about debt payments as the country has neared default. Foreign exchange reserves have dropped to cover less than a month of imports.
