Pakistan police arrest 120 workers of ex-PM Imran Khan's party ahead of protest
Most of the detentions, made on Monday night and early on Tuesday, were in the eastern city of Lahore, two police officers told Reuters, where Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party vowed its biggest demonstration, as well as protests elsewhere.
At least 200 activists had been arrested from Lahore, said party spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari, adding that the protest would go ahead.
Lahore is the capital of the eastern province of Punjab, the country's most politically important region and home to half its population.
The Punjab government and the provincial police did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
In a statement on Monday, police said large contingents of police were providing security in all the province's major cities.
Khan's party had always created 'chaos', Uzma Bukhari, a spokesperson of the provincial government, told a press conference on Monday.
'No political party can be barred from politics in Pakistan, but a terrorist organization disguised as a political party is not allowed to disrupt Pakistan's peace,' Bukhari added.
In a message attributed to Khan on his party's X account on Monday, he urged supporters to 'come out and hold peaceful protests until a true democracy is restored in the country'.
The former cricket star was elected prime minister in 2018 but, once in office, fell out with Pakistan's powerful military and was ousted in 2022 through a vote in parliament.
His arrest in May 2023 sparked protests against the military nationwide, leading to a crackdown on the party.
Khan, who denies any wrongdoing, dismisses as politically motivated the dozens of cases against him, ranging from terrorism to disclosure of official secrets.
He was convicted in January in a corruption case, while being acquitted of other charges or receiving suspended sentences.
Ahead of the protest call, hundreds of Khan's party members, including several parliamentarians were convicted late last month on charges related to the 2023 protests against his arrest.
Khan's party emerged as the single biggest in the 2024 election, and it says that rigging robbed it of more seats.
Other parties clubbed together to form a government under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which denies coming to power through electoral fraud.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
7 minutes ago
- Arab News
Pakistan court orders top Khan aide Shah Mahmood Qureshi's release following acquittal
ISLAMABAD: The judge of an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore this week ordered the release of former prime minister Imran Khan's top aide, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a day after he was acquitted in cases related to the violent riots on May 9, 2023, in the eastern city. Qureshi, who served as foreign minister under Khan's government from 2018-2022, has been in custody since August 2023 after he was arrested over his alleged role in leaking the contents of a secret diplomatic cable. The Islamabad High Court set aside Khan and Qureshi's convictions in the case in June 2024, according to which they were both serving 10 years in prison. Cases against the senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader were also registered for his alleged involvement in the May 9 riots of 2023 involving an attack on the Shadman police station and the burning of police vehicles near Jinnah House in the eastern Pakistani city, as per local media reports. Scores of Khan supporters attacked government buildings and military installations nationwide in violent protests on May 9, 2023, after the former premier was briefly detained on corruption charges. The Lahore ATC held a hearing on two cases related to the May 9 riots on Monday, sentencing over a dozen PTI members to as much as 10 years in prison, which included top Khan aides. Qureshi was acquitted in both May 9 cases by the same court. 'This is to authorize and require you, the said superintendent, to release the accused Shah Mahmood Qureshi, s/o Syed Sajjad Hussain, from this case forthwith if he is not required to you in any other case,' ATC Judge Manzer Ali Gill wrote in a letter to Kot Lakhpat Jail's superintendent on Monday. Previously detained in Rawalpindi's Adiala prison, Qureshi was moved last year to Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore due to logistical reasons. The former foreign minister, like Khan, denies any wrongdoing in the charges leveled against him. While Qureshi was acquitted in both cases on Monday, the ATC sentenced PTI leaders Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mahmood-ur-Rashid and Umar Sarfaraz Cheema to 10 years in prison. Two other PTI members, Aliya Hamza Malik and Sanam Javed, were sentenced to five years. This was the third such verdict against members of Khan's party since July 22, when an ATC in Sargodha sentenced Ahmed Chattha, Bilal Ejaz and Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Ahmed Khan Bachar to 10 years. It was followed by the sentencing of 108 PTI members, including Omar Ayub Khan, Shibli Faraz, Hamid Raza and Zartaj Gul Wazir, to 10 years in prison by an ATC in Faisalabad on July 31. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar had welcomed the court's ruling last month, accusing PTI supporters of setting fire to government buildings, damaging military property and injuring law enforcement personnel during the May 9, 2023 unrest. Meanwhile, PTI spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari described Monday's sentencing of PTI leaders as a 'flagrant travesty of justice.' 'It is unfortunate that transparency [was] set aside in these cases and the accused were not even given the opportunity to defend themselves,' Bukhari said in a statement on Monday. Khan's party denies encouraging the May 9 violence and has rejected the terrorism charges against its members. Khan says he was in jail when the protests took place and did not direct the violence. The party has said it would challenge the convictions in higher courts.
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Pakistan says 50 militants killed in four-day operation near Afghan border
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan military's media wing said on Tuesday that security forces have killed 50 'Indian-sponsored' militants belonging to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group in the last four days in the country's southwestern Balochistan province bordering Afghanistan. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military's media wing, said in a statement that security forces had killed 47 militants in the southwestern Zhob district's Sambaza area from Aug. 7-9. The ISPR said that on the night of Aug. 10, a sanitization operation was conducted in Sambaza's surrounding areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in which three more militants were killed, bringing the total tally of militants gunned down to 50 in the last four days. 'Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the killed khawarij,' the ISPR said, using the term Pakistan military frequently uses to describe militants belonging to the TTP. 'The security forces remain committed to secure the nation's frontiers and thwart attempts at sabotaging peace, stability and progress of Pakistan.' Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in violence in its western regions bordering Afghanistan since November 2022, after a fragile truce with the TTP broke down. While the military says the recent infiltration attempt took place in the volatile Balochistan province, the site of a long-running insurgency by Baloch separatists, the TTP has primarily carried out attacks in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region, targeting security personnel, police and civilians. In recent months, Islamabad has frequently accused India of backing militant groups and Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi both deny the allegation. Hostilities between Pakistan and India turned into a four-day military conflict in May when both nuclear-armed neighbors struck each other with missiles, fighter jets, drones and traded artillery fire that killed over 70 people in total. An attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26, mostly tourists, on Apr. 22 sparked the worst fighting in decades between the neighbors in early May. India blamed Pakistan for supporting the militants involved in the attack, which Islamabad strongly denied and called for a transparent probe into the incident. After four days of fighting between the two countries, US President Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan on May 10 as fears of the conflict intensifying between the nuclear states grew.
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Last year's deadly August memories haunt Balochistan in run-up to Independence Day
QUETTA, Pakistan: On the evening of Aug. 14 last year, Siraj Ahmed, a 40-year-old train supervisor in the southwestern city of Quetta, returned home from work and told his children how beautifully the local railway station had been decorated with colorful lights and a narrow-gauge steam locomotive for families to visit as part of Pakistan's Independence Day festivities. Out of excitement, his children — Ajwa, 11, Haris, 9, and Khizar, 6 — begged him to take them to see the lights and decor. Ahmed agreed, but the family's outing turned into tragedy as they were caught in a hand grenade attack that killed Ahmed and injured all three children. 'We were sitting and enjoying the atmosphere. My sister, Ajwa, and brother, Khizar, had gone ahead to see the lit up engine when the blast hit us,' Haris told Arab News this month ahead of the Pakistan's 79th Independence Day on Aug. 14. 'We three siblings were injured, and we didn't even know that our father had died. My father was lying down and he was bleeding heavily and I was bleeding too. My sister and younger brother received injuries on their legs.' The attack took place in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, Pakistan's largest but least developed province. The mineral-rich region, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has for decades been home to a separatist insurgency by Baloch armed groups who accuse the federal government of exploiting its resources to benefit other parts of the country, particularly Punjab. The Pakistani government denies this, saying it is investing heavily in the province, including through China's Belt and Road Initiative, which has brought major infrastructure projects such as the deep-sea port at Gwadar. Separatist militants in Balochistan frequently target security forces, Chinese interests, and national events such as Independence Day. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of these groups, claimed responsibility for a series of coordinated attacks in August 2024 that killed 125 people in the province, including 80 civilians, 22 security personnel, and 23 militants, according to the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS). Nationwide, 254 people were killed that month, the deadliest in six years. Last year, militants also attacked markets selling national flags and other merchandise ahead of Aug. 14. One such attack in Quetta killed a man and injured several others, discouraging many vendors from ordering Independence Day stock this year. 'Shopkeepers with small and big stalls used to order stock for Independence Day merchandise worth Rs250,000 ($879) that would yield a profit of rupees 50,000 ($175),' said Abdul Waqib, a shopkeeper who witnessed an attack on Quetta's Moti Ram Road where shops sell national day paraphernalia. 'But now, no one is even ordering merchandise for August 14.' SECURITY CLAMPDOWN With the anniversary of last August's attacks approaching, the Balochistan government has suspended mobile Internet services in all 36 districts until Aug. 31, saying 3G and 4G networks have been 'facilitating terrorists.' Shahid Rind, a provincial government spokesman, told Arab News 'some bitter terrorism incidents from the last year are still fresh in our minds' and that a 'multi-layer strategy' involving civilian and paramilitary forces had been put in place. 'The government will make every effort to ensure that the tragic incidents of last August are not repeated this year,' he said, adding that the security threat level remained 'high' but that the government was 'equally prepared.' Adding to the tense atmosphere, Pakistan Railways has suspended Quetta's train service for Aug. 11 and 14 after a targeted blast on the Quetta–Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express near Spezand railway station last week. Muhammad Kashif, a personal relations officer for Pakistan Railways' Quetta Division, said the suspension was due to a shortage of carriages caused by the attack. 'The Jaffar Express will not depart from Quetta on Aug. 11 and 14, similarly, the train will not run from Peshawar Railway Station on Aug. 13,' he said. 'We have to reschedule our train racks, because after Sunday's blast two racks of passenger train carriages were canceled.' When asked whether the decision was due to security concerns following recent attacks, Kashif denied it: 'We just need to reschedule our train carriages.' Meanwhile, the shadow of last year's violence still looms large in Ahmed's household. 'Now August 14 is coming again, we will not go to see the lights at the railway station because we fear there might be another blast,' Haris said. Since their father's death, Haris and his two siblings live with their uncle Muhammad Saleem and their mother in a cramped railway housing quarter. 'At times, Siraj's children ask, 'Where is our father?'' Saleem, Ahmed's brother-in-law, told Arab News. 'I take them to their father's grave for a prayer, giving them courage that Allah will make it all better and telling them to be patient.'
