New Delhi: As tensions remained high and widespread protests continued in Pakistan for the third consecutive day since Imran Khan’s arrest, the country’s army began cracking down on senior leaders of the former prime minister’s political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
PTI leaders including its senior vice-president and Khan’s close aide Fawad Chaudhry, senior party leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and secretary general Asad Umar were arrested between Wednesday night and Thursday.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in an address to the nation, warned that strict action will be taken against the “state’s enemies”, referring to the violence perpetuated across the country as “unforgivable crimes”.
“The miscreants will be dealt with iron hands. They will be punished according to the law,” Shehbaz said, urging protesters to stop “anti-state activities” and reject “anti-state agenda”.
This came the same day the Pakistan PM was exonerated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a money laundering case. Incidentally, Imran Khan too was arrested Tuesday on a corruption charge.
After a re-investigation, the NAB reportedly found Shehbaz and his family members to be ‘innocent’ in the 2020 case in which they were accused of money laundering and illegal transfer of funds through fake accounts.
The supplementary report, submitted Monday by the agency, stated that the 71-year-old PM, his wife Nusrat Shehbaz, son Hamza Shehbaz, and other accused were found to have no involvement in the matter.
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‘Nefarious agenda’
On Wednesday, around 300-400 PTI supporters, enraged by Imran Khan’s ‘unjust’ arrest and the subsequent court order that sent him to 8 days in the NAB’s custody, attacked the PM’s residence in Lahore, hurling petrol bombs and setting cars ablaze. Before reaching Sharif’s house, the mob also attacked the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Secretariat in Model Town.
Sharif Wednesday declared that attacking public property is an act of terrorism and enmity towards the country and those taking the law into their own hands would be dealt with “with an iron fist”.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, has called the violence in the country a “black chapter” in the nation’s history, reported The Express Tribune.
Apart from condemning the deadly violence — in which 8 people have died so far — and accusing Imran Khan of spreading “nefarious agenda” and “attacking” the Pakistan Army, PM Sharif also defended himself and PML-N leaders, saying that no allegations against them have been proved.
He also claimed that “all evidence” was present against the PTI chief in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
Arson, internet blackout
So far, Pakistan’s Punjab police have booked PTI chief Imran Khan and 1,500 of his party workers for attacking and setting ablaze the Corps Commander’s house (formerly known as Jinnah House) in Lahore.
On Wednesday, Khan was produced in the Anti-Accountability Court No. 1 presided upon by judge Muhammad Bashir, who granted the NAB eight days’ custody. Furthermore, the District and Sessions Court also indicted Khan in the Toshakhana case — the ex-PM stands accused of not disclosing money he earned from selling state gifts he had received while on foreign visits as prime minister — in which he pleaded not guilty.
While the military has been deployed in various regions of the country, including the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces and capital Islamabad among others to quell the violence, protesters continue to take to the streets. Mobile internet and social media sites like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have been blocked in Pakistan amid the violence.
The country has been in a state of political turmoil since PTI supporters reportedly ransacked and set ablaze 14 government installations/buildings including the Commander Corps headquarters, and 21 police vehicles in Punjab. Apart from army institutions, protestors are reportedly also targeting civilian infrastructure, burning ambulances, buses etc.
On Wednesday, the Peshawar headquarters of the country’s oldest existing broadcasting network, Radio Pakistan, was reportedly set on fire by PTI supporters.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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