ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s President Dr. Arif Alvi said on Thursday that legal action should be taken against violent protesters who torched government buildings and attacked military installations across the country following former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest last week. 

Tensions between ex-PM Khan and Pakistan’s military escalated on May 9 after countrywide protests after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader was dragged away from court to prison by the paramilitary Rangers personnel on corruption allegations.

Violent supporters in many parts of the country smashed buses, torched government buildings, and attacked military installations, including the house of a senior army officer. A week after the protests, several PTI leaders including former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Asad Umar, and Shireen Mazari were arrested by police. 

Angered by the protests, Pakistan’s military vowed to try suspects under military laws, a move denounced by rights groups and legal experts in the South Asian country. 

“Not only should they be condemned, but all those who are involved in this [violent protests], who carried out these acts, action should be taken against them,” Alvi said in an interview with Geo News. 

He said, however, that “action” did not imply that the suspects should be beaten up or tortured. 

“By action, I mean they should be handed punishments according to the court cases [against them],” he said. “Pakistan should take care of the human rights violations that are taking place now.”

Alvi, an integral member of the PTI himself, was told by the interviewer that Khan had not “openly condemned” the violence that took place on May 9. 

“You should ask him that,” Alvi responded. “He should [openly condemn it.”]

The political situation in the country remains tense, with Khan accusing the interim Punjab government of conspiring to arrest him despite the court granting him bail. 

Police have cordoned off all roads leading to the former premier’s Lahore residence after the Punjab government gave a 24-hour deadline to Khan to hand over alleged militants it accused the PTI leader of sheltering. 

A defiant Khan has rejected the accusations and said he would not “back down.”