Senior Khan aide expects re-arrest of former Pakistan prime minister
▶ New call for protests as senior PTI member Bukhari says powerful forces are at work against supporters
It is only a matter of time until Imran Khan is re-arrested, a senior figure from his party told The National, as the former prime minister called on Pakistanis to protest peacefully.
In his first address since he was freed from custody, Mr Khan delivered a YouTube broadcast on Saturday, although it was not aired on any of Pakistan’s major television channels.
“Tomorrow at 5.20pm – and I am particularly addressing the women because I am seeing a revolution in our homes – you have to step out with hand-written placards inscribed with ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ [true freedom] and ‘Ain bachao, Pakistan bachao’ [Save the constitution, save Pakistan],” he said.
Mr Khan, who is at home in Lahore, was released on Friday after Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled his detention by the military on Tuesday at the Islamabad
High Court, where he was appearing in connection with a case of alleged land fraud, was invalid and unlawful.
The High Court on Friday granted him protective bail for two weeks and further protection from arrest on any other charges he faces until Wednesday.
“Are we going to be facing a similar sort of [arrest] fiasco? I believe we are,” said Zulfikar Bukhari of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, who was Mr Khan’s special assistant during his time as prime minister.
Mr Bukhari said there may be a further deterioration in law and order in Pakistan should Mr Khan be re-arrested.
“He only has bail in this case for two weeks and then will we see the same kind of fiasco again? Yes,” he said.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah suggested Mr Khan might be arrested after Wednesday.
“If there is a reason for his arrest, then he will be arrested,” Mr Sanaullah told Geo News, a Pakistani news channel, on Friday.
In his speech on Saturday, Mr Khan said he wanted an independent investigation into the burning of state buildings and firing at unarmed youth protesters during demonstrations that followed his arrest. “I want the chief justice of Pakistan to make a panel under him for this,” he said.
Mr Bukhari told The National the violence was incited by “certain elements” who were not PTI members.
He said at least 47 people had been killed in measures against the PTI and its supporters – a higher toll than the nine deaths reported by hospitals and police.
“The majority of them, at point-blank, had bullets shot at them by the armed forces in their various forms,” Mr Bukhari said.
“We have about 300 people in prison and we have most of our top-tier leadership in prison as well so we mustn’t forget that. We’ve got many people injured, of course, in hospitals.
“We’re seeing videos and footage of security forces firing directly at them and being killed. There was footage yesterday of a man being beaten by about 25 police officers.”
Authorities said hundreds of police officers were injured and more than 4,000 people detained, mostly in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
Mr Bukhari said plainclothes officers were detaining elderly relatives of PTI members – who could not be found – to entice them out of hiding, and that those who had been arrested were being tortured.
After his release, Mr Khan blamed the army chief for his arrest. He benefitted greatly from the support of the army and intelligence services when he was elected prime minister in 2018. But, by late 2021, he had fallen out with the establishment and was removed from office the following April in a confidence vote, with Shehbaz Sharif becoming Prime Minister.
However, Mr Khan’s popularity has since surged and he appears to be the firm favourite to triumph in Pakistan’s next general election, scheduled for the autumn.
Mr Khan is calling for early elections, although it looks increasingly unlikely that he will be able to take part.
He is facing more than 120 criminal cases that could disqualify him from politics.
In November, he narrowly survived an assassination attempt in which he was shot four times in the legs.
“For the last 12 months, there has only been one plan and that has been to eliminate Imran Khan from the political landscape in Pakistan,” said Mr Bukhari.
“No one wants chaos or to collide with any of our policing forces or armed forces.” “But at the same time, he knows there is a much bigger fight and much bigger struggle, and that struggle has a one-point agenda and nothing else – transparent, free and fair national elections in the country, now.”