Parts of the Radio Pakistan building were torched in a massive protest in Peshawar. (high res: Here,
New Delhi:
Mass protests in Pakistan by supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan over his arrest in a corruption case have led to widespread destruction of properties.
Protesters also set fire to the office of Pakistan’s national radio broadcaster. Some Twitter users posted videos of a burning building, which they claimed was the Radio Pakistan office in Islamabad.
Imran Khan appeared in court yesterday amid violent countrywide protests over his arrest.
His arrest has brought thousands of his supporters to the streets in cities across Pakistan.
Streets near the police headquarters in Islamabad are visible in satellite images. (high res: Here,
His lawyers said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) – the anti-corruption body that ordered Imran Khan’s arrest – had asked the judge to remand the former prime minister to custody for 10 days, news agency AFP reported. However, he was remanded in NAB custody for eight days. The next hearing is on May 17.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a close aide of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan, was arrested by the police today.
Imran Khan was arrested yesterday during a routine hearing in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad. He was taken overnight to an undisclosed location before appearing behind closed doors in a specially convened court at the police headquarters.
The arrest comes after months of political crisis as Imran Khan, who was ousted in April last year, launched an unprecedented crackdown against the country’s powerful military.
The former cricket superstar, who is popular in Pakistan, has earlier denied all charges in dozens of cases filed against him.
He says the myriad legal cases are part of an effort by the struggling government and the military establishment to prevent him from returning to power.
Mr Khan’s arrest also came hours after a reprimand by the military, which alleged that a senior officer was involved in a plot to kill him.
Pakistan’s politicians have often been arrested and jailed since the country’s founding in 1947, but few have directly challenged the army, which has staged at least three coups and been in power for more than three decades. have ruled.
Pakistan’s interior ministry has ordered the cutting of mobile internet services and restricted access to social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
Authorities have ordered the closure of schools across the country – with year-end exams for students canceled.
Hundreds of police officers have been injured across the country, while nearly 1,000 people have been arrested in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, and the army has been ordered to be deployed to keep the peace.