Pakistan deploys troops to quell riots over ex-PM Khan's arrest

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's political turmoil intensified late Wednesday (May 10) with violent nationwide protests swelling and the government deploying the military, following the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan who was ordered to be held for another eight days on new corruption charges.

In an address to the nation, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif warned that those involved in violence would be given exemplary punishment.

The prime minister said the unrest by Khan's supporters “damaged sensitive public and private property," forcing him to deploy the military in the capital of Islamabad, the most populous province of Punjab and in volatile regions of the northwest.

After Khan was arrested Tuesday, crowds in Islamabad and other major cities blocked roads, clashed with police, as well as set fire to police checkpoints and military facilities in violence that left six people dead and hundreds arrested.

On Wednesday, protesters stormed a radio station in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

“Such scenes were never seen by the people of Pakistan,” Sharif said, following a Cabinet meeting. "Even patients were taken out of ambulances and ambulances were set on fire.”

Sharif said Khan was arrested because of his involvement in corruption, and that there was evidence available to back up these charges.

Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote last year by Sharif is currently being held at a police compound in Islamabad.

Police also arrested Fawad Chaudhry, Khan's deputy and vice president of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad. Chaudhry, an outspoken government critic, had insisted that he had been granted legal protection from arrest and the police did not specify the charges.

The party has appealed for calm, but the country is on high alert. 

INTERNET CUT, EXAMS CANCELLED

The interior ministry had ordered mobile internet services cut and restricted access to social media sites Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, the country's communications agency said.

Authorities have ordered schools closed nationwide - with year-end exams cancelled for students.

Hundreds of police officers have been injured across Pakistan. In Punjab, nearly 1,000 people have been arrested.

Some protesters took out their wrath on the military, torching the residence of the corps commander in Lahore and pelting the army's general headquarters in Rawalpindi with stones.

The military also weighed in with a strongly worded statement, vowing stern action against those seeking to push Pakistan toward a “civil war”. It called the organised attacks on its installations a “black chapter” in the country’s political history.

“What the eternal enemy of the country could not do for 75 years, this group, wearing a political cloak, in the lust for power, has done it,” the statement said, adding that troops had exercised restraint but they will respond to further attacks, and those involved will bear the responsibility.

It said “strict action” would be taken against those who planned or took part in attacks on military sites. It did not directly name Khan in its statement.

Khan's arrest came hours after the military rebuked him for alleging that a senior officer had been involved in a plot to kill him.

Criticism of the military establishment is rare in Pakistan, where army chiefs hold significant influence over domestic politics and foreign policy.

"The senior army leadership is uninterested in repairing the rift between itself and Khan," said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center.

"So with this arrest, it's likely sending a message that the gloves are very much off."

Khan has denounced the cases against him, which include corruption and terrorism charges, as a politically motivated plot by Sharif, his successor, to keep him from returning to power in elections to be held later this year.

In the new charges, the former cricket star is accused of accepting millions of dollars worth of property in exchange for providing benefits to a real estate tycoon. The National Accountability Bureau asked to hold him for 14 days, but the tribunal granted eight days.

Khan was finally indicted on Wednesday in the original graft case for which he appeared at the Islamabad court on Tuesday, pleading not guilty. In that case, he faced multiple graft charges brought by Islamabad police.

Khan’s lawyers have challenged the Islamabad arrest and are considering taking it to the country’s Supreme Court.