Imran Khan’s arrest Tuesday hurled parts of Pakistan into a state of turmoil, with drama spilling over to the streets in parts of the country. After their beloved leader was roughed up in broad daylight and in full public view, Imran’s supporters had a field day, reclaiming what they thought was theirs, as if living by the slogan the former premier gave once: ‘aapne ghabrana nai hai’ (you need not be nervous). The highlight, though, was one supporter who was seen roaming the streets in Lahore with his prized trophy — a peacock stolen from the Corps Commander’s house.
“Ye Corps Commander house se liya hai. Ye aawaam ka paisa hai; jo unhone chori kiya tha, wo hum apna paisa wapas le aaye (I took this from the Corp Commander’s house. This is the property of the common public that they stole; what they (Pakistan Army) stole, we brought it back.”
This is what a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporter in Lahore told the Voice of America (VOA) Urdu Tuesday when asked why he was roaming the streets clutching a peacock.
لاہور کے کور کمانڈر ہاؤس میں مظاہرین توڑ پھوڑ کے ساتھ لوٹ مار بھی کی اور لوگ چیزیں اٹھا کر اپنے ساتھ لے گئے۔ ایک شخص کور کمانڈر ہاؤس میں رکھا مور بھی اٹھا لایا۔#VOAUrdu #Lahore #ImranKhan pic.twitter.com/NUxDh3Nn1I
— VOA Urdu (@voaurdu) May 9, 2023
Chaos erupted in cities across Pakistan following the dramatic arrest of PTI chief and former prime minister Imran Khan, who was taken into custody by the Rangers, a paramilitary force, from the premises of the Islamabad HC at the direction of Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Rangers abducted PTI Chairman Imran Khan, these are the visuals. Pakistan’s brave people must come out and defend their country. pic.twitter.com/hJwG42hsE4
— PTI (@PTIofficial) May 9, 2023
Hours before his arrest, Khan had in a video message accused officials of the Pakistan Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) — the State contractor for cloak-and-dagger activities — of having engineered two ‘attempts’ on his life.
“If I have to spend my life under these thieves, these dacoits, these duffers, as their slave, I pray to Allah that it is better that he take me,” said Khan.
اسلام آباد عدالتی پیشی کیلئے روانگی سے قبل چیئرمین تحریک انصاف کا خصوصی پیغام
آئی ایس پی آر کی پریس ریلیز پر خصوصی ردعمل #BehindYouSkipper pic.twitter.com/NtrcUSrwwY
— PTI (@PTIofficial) May 9, 2023
And it worked. Within minutes of his arrest, Khan’s party issued a call to “shut down Pakistan”. Shortly after, supporters took to the streets across the country in large numbers, targeting Army buildings and installations.
It was against this backdrop that hundreds stormed the official residence of the Corp Commander in Lahore, shattering or stealing every fixture they could get their hands on. While one, quoted earlier, made away with a peacock, another announced on social media that he was relishing strawberries he stole from the Corp Commander’s refrigerator in Lahore.
#EXCLUSIVE: #PTI protestors enjoying strawberries they looted from refrigerator of corps commander #Lahore’s house. pic.twitter.com/b89LP2Tocr
— Asad Ali Toor (@AsadAToor) May 9, 2023
Imran’s supporters also stormed the Corp Commander’s official residence in Quetta, and a part of the Army General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi — an unheard-of sight, given that in Pakistan, power flows from the barrel of not just any gun, but the one wielded by its almighty Army.
GHQ Rawalpindi being surrounded by Pakistanis, as more and more people continue to march towards it.#نکلو_خان_کی_زندگی_بچاؤ#ShutDownPakistan pic.twitter.com/zLSi7QadI2
— PTI USA Official (@PTIOfficialUSA) May 9, 2023
Another video doing the rounds on social media shows two men, each brandishing a white peacock, a building set ablaze in the background. The claim was that these birds were also ‘reclaimed’ from the Corp Commander’s official residence in Lahore Cantt by frenzied PTI workers.
لاہور کینٹ میں کور کمانڈر ہاؤس سے لوگ مور بھی اٹھا کر لے گئے۔#karachi #pakistan #lahore #cantt #islambad #imrankhan #imrankhanarrest pic.twitter.com/agJh8B9dJP
— Raftar (@raftardotcom) May 9, 2023
As for Imran, while his ties to real estate tycoon Malik Riaz may have led to his foreseeable arrest, the cricketer-turned-populist — described as the ‘most divisive man in Pakistan’ — reportedly faces at least 121 cases across the country, including charges of inciting violence, committing blasphemy and attacking the country’s institutions, among others.
On Wednesday, a court indicted him in the controversial Toshakhana case in which he has been accused of selling gifts he received between 2018 and 2022 as the premier.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)