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Pause in Pakistan ex-PM arrest bid extended

A Pakistani court on Thursday extended a pause in the effort to arrest former prime minister Imran Khan, a sign of easing tension in the South Asian country’s cultural capital after clashes erupted this week when police tried to detain him.

The decision is a reprieve for Khan, who was due to be arrested a few hours earlier. The Lahore High Court ordered police to suspend the plan to arrest the 70-year-old opposition leader until Friday. It also asked Khan’s legal team for talks to resolve the issue.

The extension sent a wave of relief through Khan’s stick-wielding supporters, who were prepared to prevent police from reaching Khan’s house in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province. Despite the court order, however, police and paramilitary rangers deployed for Khan’s arrest were not immediately withdrawn.

Usman Anwar, Punjab’s police chief, said the violence in Lahore began when officers went to comply with the court order and arrest Khan.

But, he added, 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 the capital Islamabad, Khan’s legal team on Thursday asked judge Zafar Iqbal to suspend the arrest warrants he had issued last week for the ex-premier, who is accused of illegally selling state gifts and concealing his assets.

Iqbal gave no indication of whether he would suspend the warrants.

Instead, he asked why Khan resisted when officers went to his house to arrest him. The judge said if Khan surrendered to the court now, he would stop the police from arresting him.

Violence erupted in Lahore on Tuesday when about 1,000 Khan supporters clashed with police when they tried to arrest him at his house in the upscale Zaman Park neighborhood. The supporters hurled gas bombs, rocks and bricks at the police.

Officers responded by swinging batons, firing tear gas and using water cannons. They failed to arrest Khan. On Wednesday, Khan said in a video message that he was ready to travel to Islamabad on March 18 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 tear gas 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 the previous day.

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

He was also disqualified from holding any public office last October on the charges.

Asia And Oceania

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2023-03-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://manilatimes.pressreader.com/article/281943137115848

The Manila Times