Pakistan ex-PM Khan back home after arrest, riots

PAKISTAN’S former prime minister Imran Khan arrived at his Lahore residence on Saturday after being freed on bail following days of legal drama and nationwide riots over his arrest on corruption charges.

Khan was swooped on by dozens of paramilitary troops and arrested during a routine court appearance on Tuesday, triggering violent clashes in several cities between his supporters and security forces.

His detention came just hours after he was rebuked by the powerful military, whom he once again accused of being involved in an assassination attempt against him last year.

The arrest on court premises as he prepared to file a bail application was declared unlawful on Thursday by the Supreme Court, which kept Khan in custody until Friday – when he was granted two weeks’ bail in the corruption case.

Islamabad High Court also ordered Khan could not be arrested before Monday in any case.

Khan has become entangled in a slew of legal allegations – a frequent hazard for opposition figures in Pakistan – since he was ousted from power in April last year.

“The head of the country’s largest party was abducted, kidnapped from the high court, and in front of the entire nation,” Khan told AFP from the court building.

“They treated me like a terrorist, this had to have a reaction,” he said of the protests that followed.

Khan eventually left the heavily guarded court late Friday, hours after his hearings had ended and as protesters a few kilometers away clashed with police, who responded with tear gas. Shots were also fired towards officers, police said.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, the former cricket superstar reached his Lahore residence, where videos posted by his PTI party showed more than 100 supporters celebrating his release and throwing rose petals over his car.

“They keep trying to silence Khan and keep trying to put him behind bars. But Khan has proven that the one who stands with the truth always wins,” 21-year-old supporter Waqar Ahsan told AFP after Khan was granted bail.

Zuneira Shah, a 40-year-old mother of three, feared that “the establishment would keep coming for him.”