Imran Khan arrest updates: Protests after ex-Pakistan PM held

Imran Shafique, a lawyer and former prosecutor at Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB), says Khan can be kept in custody for a maximum of 14 days.

“The court has ordered an eight-day remand for him [Khan], and it can be extended for another six days,” Shafique told Al Jazeera.

Shafique explained that the former Prime Minister Khan will be able to seek bail once the duration of his remand is over, as he is already under arrest.

Shafique said there are few scenarios under which Khan could face the prospect of arrest. The first, under which he was taken away, was not appearing in court despite being issued notices.

“The second scenario is if he is charged with tampering with evidence, which is not possible since all evidence is with NAB and the third is there is a fear that Khan would flee the country,” he said.

“Therefore, it does not seem like his questioning and arrest will last too long.”

Tahir Khan, a journalist and armed group expert, said that the protests happening in Pakistan are “unique”.

Khan’s party has a sort of “state power”, Khan told Al Jazeera from Islamabad.

“I haven’t seen this kind of quick reaction – the response by activists of a political party – to such kinds of arrests,” he said of the mass protests taking place in support of the former prime minister.

“It is also rare in Pakistan to target military installations,” he added.

“This is very serious now … I don’t think these protests will stop because PTI already said that Imran Khan is a red line.”

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said protests across the country are “absolutely continuing”.

“We’ve been speaking to some of the leadership of the PTI who cautioned that there were elements between these protesters who were adding fuel to the fire,” Hyder said.

The party’s leadership said that protesters should “remain peaceful, should not take the law into their own hands”, Hyder added.

According to him, they also said there seems to be a “deliberate attempt to try and escalate the situation”.

Pakistani authorities have restricted access to Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms amid mounting violence in the country generated by the arrest of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“Additionally, total internet shutdowns have been observed in some regions,” NetBlocks, the global internet monitor, said on Tuesday.

Read more here.

Senior members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have said that a six-member body will gather and decide upon their next move.

The committee, formed by Khan in March over his fears of being arrested, was given the power to handle party matters in his absence, and is headed by senior Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Qureshi called Khan’s arrest “illegal” and urged the public to take to the streets to protest the court’s latest decision.

“Under the leadership of Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a six-member committee formed by Imran Khan himself will decide upon the course of action,” Asad Umar, the party’s secretary-general, said.

Access to social media platforms has been restricted in Pakistan, the internet watchdog NetBlocks said, adding that “total internet shutdowns are now in effect in some regions” of the country.

“The incident is likely to limit freedom of assembly and the public’s ability to seek information,” it said.

⚠️ Confirmed: Live metrics show that Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are now restricted across #Pakistan amid the arrest of former PM Imran Khan; the incident is likely to limit freedom of assembly and the public’s ability to seek information 📉

📰 Report: https://t.co/BCs5hPpTsU pic.twitter.com/CLIjGLQFLO

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) May 9, 2023

Amnesty International has urged the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to restore mobile internet services in the country and access to social media platforms.

“Amid concerns about escalating clashes between Imran Khan’s supporters and the police, Amnesty International is alarmed by reports that Pakistani authorities have suspended mobile internet and access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube,” the United Kingdom-based rights group said on Twitter.

“We call upon the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority and Interior Ministry to immediately reverse this ban.”

🇵🇰Pakistan: Amid concerns about escalating clashes between Imran Khan’s supporters and the police, Amnesty International is alarmed by reports that Pakistani authorities have suspended mobile internet and access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

— Amnesty International South Asia, Regional Office (@amnestysasia) May 9, 2023

The Islamabad High Court has declared Khan’s arrest legal, his lawyer told Al Jazeera.

“The court declared the arrest legal,” Faisal Fareed Chaudhry, part of Khan’s legal team, said. “We are consulting with party leaders to decide future course of action.”

Supporters of Khan’s PTI party have taken to the streets of the UK’s capital to protest against his arrest. Dozens gathered outside the Pakistan High Commission in London on Tuesday evening waving flags.

The federation for private schools in Pakistan has declared that all private schools in the country will be closed on May 10.

“Due to the emergency situation in the country, all private schools in the country will remain closed on Wednesday, May 10,” Kashif Mirza, the president of the association, said.

Separately, the British Council – the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities – has announced the cancellation of exams scheduled for May 10 due to the “sudden developing situation” in Pakistan.

The council, which supervises the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams, in its statement said that the exams for both morning and afternoon sessions were cancelled.

“The decision was made after carefully evaluating the situation and to ensure the safety of our candidates, their parents and staff members in the event of any incident,” the statement read.

Khan’s arrest is the latest twist in a months-long political crisis and follows several unsuccessful attempts to apprehend the cricketer-turned-politician.

Khan was charged in a number of cases that his party says are politically motivated, that include allegations ranging from corruption to “terrorism” to rioting.

Here is a timeline of the events that have led to Khan’s arrest.

Benazir Shah, a Lahore-based political analyst, said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has been used in the past by the military to crack down on politicians.

“The tradition seems to be continuing,” she told Al Jazeera. “Imran Khan’s arrest may have less to do with the corruption charge NAB is probing and more with the allegation Khan levelled against serving military officials earlier this week.”

Muhammad Faisal, a political observer in Islamabad, said that with Khan’s arrest, political instability in the country could become untenable.

“It appears that Pakistan’s multiple crises just got hit by political violence in the most populous province with two leading forces, PTI and military establishment locking horns in a violent way,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that “we may not see Khan returning to power” in the long run.

Malahat Obaid, official spokesperson for the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), told Al Jazeera that the regulatory body was instructed by the Ministry of Interior to suspend access to Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

“We have received a letter from the ministry, asking us to issue orders of suspension,” she said.

Earlier, a top official of NayaTel, an internet service provider, told Al Jazeera that the PTA issued orders to all internet operators to block Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

According to the message, which Al Jazeera has seen, the authority requested “immediate” blocking of the social media sites.

⚠️ Confirmed: Live metrics show that Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are now restricted across #Pakistan amid the arrest of former PM Imran Khan; the incident is likely to limit freedom of assembly and the public's ability to seek information 📉

📰 Report: https://t.co/BCs5hPpTsU pic.twitter.com/CLIjGLQFLO

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) May 9, 2023

Salman Safdar, one of the lawyers representing Khan, told Al Jazeera that the verdict on the legality of Khan’s arrest has been reserved by the Islamabad High Court and will be issued shortly.

“We are expecting the order to be out in another 30 minutes, hopefully,” said the lawyer, who is currently inside the court.

Aamer Farooq, the chief justice of the court, earlier said that Khan will have to be released “if he was arrested ‘illegally'”.

Users across Pakistan have reported difficulties while trying to access Twitter, the social media website and app.

Downdetector, an online service which monitors outages of websites, showed a high number of reports coming in from Pakistan.

Thousands of Khan’s supporters took to the streets in the capital Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and other cities to protest against his arrest.

In Islamabad, hundreds of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) activists blocked the main Kashmir Highway, which suspended traffic on either side of the road.

In Lahore, protesters gathered outside the former prime minister’s Zaman Park residence and blocked the adjacent roads by burning tyres.

In the southern port city of Karachi, PTI supporters gathered outside the local party office located along the city’s busiest Shahrah-e-Faisal Road.

Read more here.

Khan was arrested in connection with corruption involving the Al-Qadir University Trust, which is headed by Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi.

Legal experts say the former prime minister’s arrest may violate recently amended laws.

Read more here.

Zeeshan Salahuddin, a political analyst and director of the centre for regional and global connectivity at Tabadlab, said it is “difficult to predict where this country might go within the next 12 to 48 hours”.

“The situation is very vitriolic, very nebulous, and it’s very uncertain at the moment,” Salahuddin told Al Jazeera.

“Ever since this whole process started with ousting of the former prime minister 13 months ago, it has become crystal clear that the ruling political elite, as well as the establishment in the country, did not want Imran Khan back in any capacity, in any ruling capacity,” he said.

“They will go to whatever lengths to ensure this happens.”

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said Khan’s arrest has “come as a shock”.

“The chief justice of the Islamabad high court has expressed his anger, saying that this is an attack on the court itself because the former prime minister was inside the court premises,” Hyder said.

According to his lawyer, Khan was “kicked, he was hit in the head, pepper spray was used” before he was taken away by “paramilitary forces”, he added.

Protesters and supporters of Khan have gathered but Hyder said “scuffles” erupted between the police and Khan’s supporters.

“We have reports of protests in all major cities across Pakistan … Dozens of supporters of the former prime minister have also been arrested,” he said.

The provincial government in Punjab has imposed a law banning demonstrations to maintain law and order, according to local Information Minister Amir Mir.

Section 144 of the Pakistan Penal Code prohibits the public from all kinds of corner meetings, gatherings and congregations. It also empowers the administration to arrest members of the public who engage in such gatherings.