Protests continue across the country after the Pakistani Justice Movement Party (PTI) leader Khan was arrested on corruption charges, according to national media reports.
During the demonstrations, 7 people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and one person each in Balochistan and Punjab died during the demonstrations.
The number of demonstrators who lost their lives in the protests that have continued since 9 May in the country has increased to 9, and more than 290 people have been injured.
More than 1,900 party supporters, including senior PTI politicians, were detained.
In Tarnol, protesters damaged train tracks.
Police properties were damaged in the capital Islamabad and Lahore, and a border fort belonging to paramilitary units in Lower Dir.
At demonstrations in Lahore, a large generator exploded during protests. No one died in the incident.
At the Shadman Police Station in Lahore, protesters damaged belongings and vehicles belonging to the police.
More than 200 police were injured
More than 200 police officers were injured in the ongoing demonstrations across the country, and many vehicles belonging to the police were rendered unusable.
After the federal government called on the army to provide security, armed forces personnel started to work at various points in the capital, Islamabad.
$239 million corruption charges
Last June, the coalition government claimed that Khan and his wife had bought billions of rupees worth of land from Pakistan’s major real estate tycoon, Malik Riaz, to build an educational institute.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) states that Han’s PTI government made a deal with Riaz, which caused more than $239 million in losses to the national treasury.
In December 2019, Riaz agreed to hand over assets, including $239 million worth of property, to the UK’s National Crime Agency as part of an investigation into “dirty money”.
Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah reported that British authorities returned $239 million to Pakistan in connection with money laundering, but Khan gave the money to Riaz instead of keeping it in the national treasury.
Arrest by NAB decision
The arrest warrant for Han was issued by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The development came after Khan accused a senior intelligence official of being behind the assassination of him.
On May 8, the Pakistani military described former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s allegations that a senior intelligence official was behind the assassination of him as “irresponsible and unfounded”.
Khan started a march from Lahore to Islamabad on October 28, 2022, on the grounds that the coalition government did not declare early elections.
Khan was wounded in both legs when his convoy was fired upon in Wazirabad on 3 November 2022. One person was killed and 13 people were injured in the attack.
In Pakistan’s parliamentary vote of no confidence on April 10, 2022, Imran Khan’s government had fallen with 174 “no” votes.
Shahbaz Sharif, brother of Nawaz Sharif, who served as prime minister for three terms in the country, was elected prime minister with the support of the absolute majority with 174 votes in the election held in the Parliament on April 11, 2022.