Police operation to arrest Imran Khan temporarily barred by Pakistan court

Lahore High Court orders police to suspend plans to arrest Khan until Friday

A Pakistan high court on Thursday extended a pause in the police’s efforts to arrest former prime minister Imran Khan.

The decision is a reprieve for Mr Khan, who was due to be arrested on Thursday.

The court had on Wednesday intervened to tamp down clashes between Mr Khan’s supporters and police after both sides suffered scores of injuries in pitched battles outside his Lahore home.

The Lahore High Court ordered police to suspend the plan to arrest the 70-year-old opposition leader until Friday. It also asked Mr Khan’s legal team for talks to resolve the issue.

The order also sent a wave of relief through his stick-wielding supporters who were prepared to prevent the police from reaching Mr Khan’s house in the capital of the Punjab province.

Despite the order, police and paramilitary rangers deployed for the arrest were not immediately withdrawn.

Usman Anwar, the police chief in the Punjab province, said the violence in Lahore began Tuesday when officers went to comply with the court order and arrest Mr Khan. But, he said, Mr Khan’s supporters started throwing stones at officers, who were unarmed and only carrying batons.

“We will comply with the court order, and we will do it,” he told a local Geo TV station.

In Islamabad, Mr Khan’s legal team on Thursday had asked judge Zafar Iqbal to suspend arrest warrants he had issued last week for the former prime minister, who is accused of illegally selling state gifts and concealing his assets.

Judge Iqbal gave no indication of whether he will suspend the arrest warrants for Mr Khan. Instead, he asked why Mr Khan resisted when officers went to his house to arrest him. The judge said if he surrenders to the court now, he will stop police from arresting him.

Supporters of former Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan shout slogans as they march towards his residence in Lahore on 16 March 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Violence erupted in Lahore on Tuesday when about 1,000 supporters of Mr Khan clashed with police after the former prime minister accused security forces of acting illegally after they led an overnight siege outside his house in Lahore to arrest him.

His supporters hurled petrol bombs, rocks and bricks at police. Officers responded by swinging batons, firing teargas and using water cannons at scores of supporters.

Videos showed police in riot gear to break up the violent protests. Another video of Mr Khan’s residence in the Zaman Park area showed thick smoke billowing from the building.

On Wednesday, Mr Khan said in a video message that he was ready to travel to Islamabad on 18 March to appear before the court, if he is not arrested. He also posed for cameras seated at a long table, showing off piles of spent teargas shells he said had been collected from around his home.

“What crime did I commit that my house has been attacked like this,” he tweeted a day earlier.

Supporters of former Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan march towards his residence in Lahore (AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April last year, was ordered to appear before a judge in Islamabad on Saturday to answer charges of illegally selling state gifts he had received during his term as premier and concealing his assets.

The former premier has avoided appearances before the court since November, when he was wounded in an assassination attempt at a protest rally in eastern Punjab province, claiming he was not medically fit to travel from Lahore to Islamabad to face indictment.

Last week, he went to Islamabad to appear before three courts, but failed to appear before the fourth court to face indictment in the graft case, which is a legal process for starting his trial.

Mr Khan has claimed that the string of cases against him, which includes terrorism charges, are a plot by his successor Shahbaz Sharif’s government to discredit the former cricket star turned Islamist politician.

From his home, Mr Khan urged his followers on Tuesday to fight on even if he is arrested. “They think this nation will fall asleep when Imran Khan is jailed,” he wrote on Twitter. “You need to prove them wrong.”

On Wednesday, he tweeted that there was a plot “to abduct and assassinate” him.

Additional reporting by agencies