ISLAMABAD: At least eight people have died across Pakistan and over 1,000 have been arrested as police and other law enforcers cast their net wide against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers, who have been staging violent protests against the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan.
Most of the arrests have been made in Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar and the Hazara division. Police and other law enforcers continue to raid houses of PTI workers and leaders across Pakistan with a major focus on Punjab.
According to media reports, at least four people have died in Peshawar, one in Quetta and three in Lahore.
A spokesperson for Lady Reading Hospital said that four bullet-riddled bodies were brought to the hospital and at least 27 others were under treatment for traumatic injuries.
On Wednesday, an accountability court in Islamabad granted the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) eight-day remand of Imran Khan, who was arrested a day on Tuesday from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case.
Earlier, the army was called in to maintain law and order in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Islamabad, where violent clashes occurred in the last three days following the arrest of Imran Khan, who has been kept in a guest house at Police Lines Headquarters in Islamabad.
The army said that May 9 would be remembered as a “black chapter”, after PTI protesters targeted army property and installations.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the army would not allow anyone to take the law into their hands.
It issued a stern warning after protesters attacked its properties and installations in various cities, including Lahore.
Earlier, a district and sessions court in Islamabad formally indicted Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case, charging him that he illegally sold state gifts when he was the prime minister. The Election Commission of Pakistan filed the Toshakhana reference against Imran Khan.
A conviction could disqualify Imran Khan from standing for office, possibly for life. Imran Khan denied the allegations and said he fulfilled all legal requirements. Toshakhana is the first of dozens of cases filed against Imran Khan in which he has been formally charged.
According to the BBC, there was tight security at the police guesthouse in Islamabad where Imran Khan is being detained, also serving as a courtroom.
For months he had avoided arrest, with his supporters at times fighting pitched battles with police to keep him out of custody.
The arrest on Tuesday was made following a fresh warrant for a case involving the alleged transfer of land for Al-Qadir University, close to Islamabad. In this case, the court remanded Khan into NAB custody for eight days.
Sher Afzal Marwat, one of Imran Khan’s attorneys, said that his client was doing well and has asked his supporters to keep fighting. “You have to defend the rule of law by standing your ground,” Khan was quoted as saying by Marwat.
The PTI has said it would challenge the legitimacy of his arrest in court.
In a televised address, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned that violent protests would not be tolerated.
“The protesters who take the law into their own hands would be dealt with an iron hand,” he said.
PTI workers ransacking the Lahore corps commander’s residence, smashing chandeliers and making away with peacocks – among other things – which they said were bought with their money.
Police in Islamabad used large containers to block routes to the complex where Imran Khan has been detained.
Slashes erupted between PTI protesters and the police on Srinagar Highway on Wednesday.
Protesters gathered, some carrying PTI flags and wearing Imran Khan face masks.
Soon after the crowd started to assemble, tear gas canisters were shot into it. With their sticks, the demonstrators tried to knock the metal casings aside.
“We came to do a peaceful protest, but these police are shelling us,” one man, holding stones and a stick and wearing a surgical mask, told the BBC.
“Until our death, we will continue the protest or until they free Imran. Otherwise, we would shut the whole country.”
PTI leader Shireen Mazari told the BBC that how Khan was detained amounted to state abduction.
“We don’t expect even the military to abuse the sanctity of the court in this way. People in Pakistan are “seething with anger” at how he was treated.
Police have arrested scores of PTI supporters and leaders, including party secretary-general Asad Umar.
Mobile internet services remain heavily restricted across the country. Pakistan’s telecommunication authorities said they had suspended services on instructions from the interior ministry.
Schools also remain closed in Punjab, some highways have been blocked and there is little traffic on roads in major cities.
