ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s prime minister said Saturday that authorities would go after those involved in violent protests following the detention of his predecessor, Imran Khan, including prosecution in anti-terrorism courts.
Shahbaz Sharif’s warnings were a sign of further escalation in the long-running showdown between the government and Khan, who has the backing of large numbers of supporters.
Khan returned to his home in the eastern city of Lahore early Saturday, after a court agreed to shield him from renewed arrest for two weeks. The 70-year-old former cricket star, who was toppled by parliament a year ago, planned to deliver a televised speech from his home later Saturday.
The recent chain of events began Tuesday when Khan was dragged out of a courtroom and arrested in the capital of Islamabad. His detention was met by violent protests by his supporters, who torched cars and buildings, including military installations. Hundreds were arrested in the aftermath.
Khan was released on Friday, but a long list of around 100 court cases, on charges ranging from fomenting violence to corruption, still stands against him. Khan said Friday that authorities only allowed him to travel when he threatened to tell the public he was being held there against his will.
Sharif on Saturday vowed to go after those involved in setting on fire the residence of the military’s corps commander in Lahore.
“The culprits including the planners, abettors and attackers” face trial in anti-terrorism courts, he told officials in Lahore. Sharif ordered the Law Ministry to increase the number of anti-terrorism courts to speed up the trials.
Khan has been in a standoff with the government that replaced him and has alleged the charges against him are politically motivated. Sharif maintains there is a “genuine corruption case” against Khan, “but the judiciary has become a stone wall protecting him.”
On the day of Khan’s arrest, protests were held at several places across the country that also witnessed violence. In Rawalpindi’s garrison city, baton-wielding protesters broke into the main gate of the military’s general headquarters.
Also, in the northwestern city of Peshawar, protesters set on fire the building of national broadcaster Radio Pakistan, which also housed the offices of state-run news wire Associated Press of Pakistan.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Saturday alleged that armed assailants were involved in the attacks on military installations and government buildings, rejecting a portrayal of the events as spontaneous protests.
Khan has a broad base of support around Pakistan. He presents himself as an outsider victimized by the military and the political dynasties that have long run the country. Opponents, meanwhile, call him a corrupt demagogue stirring his followers into violence.
Pakistan prime minister says those involved in violence of Khan detention will face terrorism trials
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Pakistan prime minister says those involved in violence of Khan detention will face terrorism trials
- Shahbaz Sharif's warnings were a sign of further escalation in the long-running showdown between the government and Khan
- The recent chain of events began Tuesday when Khan was dragged out of a courtroom and arrested in the capital of Islamabad
Military remains loyal after Maduro ouster, Venezuelan exiles say
- The military, and even Maduro’s own son, have pledged loyalty to new interim leader Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s former vice president and close confidant
COLOMBIA: Real change has not come to Venezuela despite Nicolas Maduro’s ouster as president and the armed forces remain loyal to the regime: that was the blunt assessment Monday of former security operatives living in exile.
Last weekend, from the Colombian-Venezuelan border, Williams Cancino watched the spectacular US snatch-and-grab of his ex-boss and president.
He hoped it could be the beginning of freedom for Venezuela, after a quarter century of repression, economic depression and one-party rule.
But if things are to really change, first “a new high command is needed” in the country’s powerful security services, he told AFP on Monday.
“The top brass are totally loyal to the regime,” said Cancino, who until his defection in 2019 was an officer in Venezuela’s police and the Special Action Forces, which are often used to crack down on dissent.
Through flawed elections and mass protests, they helped Maduro’s government to survive.
When contacted by AFP, several Venezuelan former soldiers and police officers — branded as traitors by their government — shared the view that many of the same people still control Venezuela, despite a dramatic change at the top.
Much power appears to remain in the hands of Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino — both wanted by US authorities.
The military, and even Maduro’s own son, have pledged loyalty to new interim leader Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s former vice president and close confidant.
“Currently, the armed forces’ leadership is nothing more than an appendage of a dictatorial regime,” said one former colonel who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.
With Maduro out of the country, he believes “the high command” should “step aside.”
Cleberth Delgado, a former detective, is also skeptical about a transition in Venezuela while commanders loyal to Rodriguez remain in their posts.
In constant contact with former comrades, many ex-officers say they are preparing to return to Venezuela, with the goal of taking over roles from the current military leadership.
“We are waiting for the right moment to support the new government,” one that is elected at the polls, Delgado said. But so far, there is little sign that it will happen.
Even US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has spent his political career campaigning for democracy in Cuba and elsewhere in Latin America, said elections were not the priority in Venezuela.
US President Donald Trump has outright dismissed the idea that Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition figurehead Maria Corina Machado could lead the country.
While some former officers still speak of change by force, Cancino hopes his former comrades will do the right thing.
“We don’t want conflict, and much less a civil war. We don’t want to face off against brothers.”
