Pakistan’s former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, was arrested on Tuesday by the military. At the same time, his party said he was present at the Islamabad High Court to hear a corruption case.
According to his PTI lawyer Faisal Chaudhry, the Rangers detained the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman as he appeared in court on anti-graft charges after travelling from Lahore to the federal capital Islamabad.
His party confirmed the arrest of the 70-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician.
“Khan has been arrested in the Al-Qadeer trust case when he was present in the Islamabad High Court,” his party said in a statement.
Chaudhry said Khan was dragged out of the court and into a police vehicle. He said the former premier is now in the custody of the security forces. He denounced the arrest as “an abduction.”
“State terrorism – breaking into IHC premises to abduct Imran Khan from court premises. The law of the jungle in operation. Rangers beat the lawyers, used violence on Imran Khan and abducted him,” tweeted former minister Shireen Mazari, a PTI spokeswoman.
Khan’s party quickly filed a complaint with the Islamabad High Court, which asked for a police report outlining the reasons behind Khan’s arrest.
Since being removed from office by a no-trust vote in April last year, Khan has been involved in several cases. All of these cases have been condemned by him as political victimization by the ruling alliance.
