Thu 11 May 2023:
As the government sends in the army to assist put an end to the fatal turmoil started by Imran Khan’s detention three days ago, the party of the former prime minister has accused the Pakistani authorities of detaining a top official.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who served as foreign minister in Khan’s cabinet during his four years as prime minister, was allegedly detained overnight, according to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
Unrest in #Pakistan after arrest of #PTI Chief and former PM of Pakistan Imran Khan pic.twitter.com/wjwHcHUhJW
— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) May 11, 2023
Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry, two other PTI senior figures, were also detained on Wednesday.
The violence sparked by Khan’s arrest on Tuesday by the country’s anti-corruption agency has aggravated instability in the country of 220 million people as it grapples with a severe economic crisis and a delay to an International Monetary Fund bailout since November.
Protesters have stormed military buildings and ransacked the residence of a top army general in the eastern city of Lahore. Other state buildings and assets have been attacked and set ablaze by protesters.
At least five people have died in the violence.
IN PICTURES: Thousands of protesters took the streets in Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and other cities in Pakistan after the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. pic.twitter.com/RP1OtZsbmP
— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) May 11, 2023
The federal government on Wednesday approved requests from two of Pakistan’s four provinces – Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, both Khan strongholds – and the federal capital Islamabad to deploy troops to restore order.
The Islamabad police said on early on Thursday that troops have reached the capital city.
Police have arrested more than 1,300 protesters in Khan’s home province of Punjab for violence.
Separately, Khan was accused by a Pakistani court on Wednesday in an other case for illegally selling state gifts between 2018 and 2022.
The corruption cases against Khan are two of more than 100 filed against him since his ouster in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022.
Even after being injured in a November attack, he has not halted his fight against his removal.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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