Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan will be brought to the Police Lines Guest House in Islamabad’s H-11 a day after his detention.
According to a police spokesman, Imran will not be brought to court and his planned hearing will take place at the site where he is being detained in prison.
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, supporters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were told to gather early on Wednesday in Swabi City to join a convoy heading to Islamabad.
According to statements shared on Twitter on Wednesday, party leaders urged workers to continue protesting but not to take the “law into their own hands.”
On Tuesday, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested the former Prime Minister in the Al-Qadir Trust Case outside the IHC.
According to a witness, shortly after Imran entered the IHC gate to appear before hearings, paramilitary forces and armoured personnel carriers followed him.
The gate was closed by armoured vehicles, and Imran was carried away shortly afterwards under tight protection, according to the witness.
Protests erupted across the country in response to the detention. According to provincial home minister Ziaullah Langove, at least one demonstrator was murdered and 12 people were injured, including six police officers in Quetta.
PTI’s leadership ‘fighting’ to meet Imran
Meanwhile, the PTI’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi has stated that the party’s senior leadership is in Islamabad and “fighting” to meet with Imran in order to free him from “this illegal abduction.”
“We continue to call on @PTIofficial family members, supporters, and Pakistanis to take to the streets in peaceful protest of this unconstitutional behaviour.” “No one, absolutely no one,” he continued, “should be allowed to ride roughshod over the law.”
Qureshi went on to say that the PTI’s Ali Haider Zaidi had also been apprehended and that the PTI workers had been “indiscriminately fired upon, killed, and water cannoned with chemical water.”
“My offices in Multan were raided today, and my staff was beaten up,” he claimed.
EX PM Imran’s arrest warrant
The arrest warrant, dated May 1 was signed by NAB Chairman Lt-Gen Nazir Ahmed. It said that Imran was accused of corruption and corrupt practices under Section 9(a) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.
AL-Qadir Trust case
Al-Qadir Trust is a non-governmental charity organisation founded in 2018 by Imran’s third wife, Bushra Watto, and Imran while he was still in power.
The charity operates a university outside of Islamabad dedicated to spirituality and Islamic teachings, a project inspired by the former first lady, who is a spiritual healer.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the trust was a front for Imran to collect valuable land as a bribe from a real estate developer, Malik Riaz Hussain, who is one of Pakistan’s richest and most prominent businesspeople.
According to Reuters, the trust owns approximately 60 acres of land worth seven billion Pakistani rupees ($24.7 million) and another large plot of land in Islamabad near Imran’s hilltop residence.
The university’s designated site is a 60-acre property, but very little has been erected there.
Internet connectivity issues
=Following Imran’s arrest, huge internet connectivity troubles were reported throughout Pakistan, with Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi experiencing massive disruptions in services.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) acknowledged the suspension of mobile broadband services in the country.
“This has happened on the instruction of the ministry of Interior,” the official told Business Recorder.
The outage tracking website Downdetector. pk also reported a large increase in complaints across several social media platforms. After 8 p.m. on Tuesday, services for YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter were disrupted.
British Council cancels all examinations across Pakistan
Furthermore, the British Council suspended all Cambridge tests set for Wednesday, May 10, 2023, in the country on Tuesday.
“Due to the rapidly evolving situation in the country,” the British Council said in a statement, “the British Council has cancelled all Cambridge International, Pearson, University of London, and IELTS exams scheduled across Pakistan on Wednesday, 10 May.”
“We will update on the status of exam sessions scheduled for May 11 and 12 on our social media channels tomorrow,” it added.
US, UK back rule of law
Following Imran’s detention, top US and British diplomats appealed for Pakistan to adhere to the “rule of law” on Tuesday.
“We just want to make sure that whatever happens in Pakistan is consistent with the rule of law, with the constitution,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a joint news conference in Washington.
Speaking with Blinken, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly stated that Britain has a “longstanding and close relationship” with Commonwealth member Pakistan.
“We want that country to have peaceful democracy.” “We want to see the rule of law followed,” Cleverly stated.
Both declined to comment in further detail, with Cleverly saying he had not been fully briefed on the situation.
