ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s top aide Shah Mahmood Qureshi was released on Tuesday nearly a month after he was arrested following violent protests in the wake of Khan’s detention in a land fraud case on May 9.

Pakistan has been in turmoil since Khan was ousted from the office of the prime minister in 2022 through a parliamentary vote of no-confidence and launched street protests for fresh elections. A full-blown economic crisis, with runaway inflation, a plunge in the currency and the possibility of a debt default, has added to the turmoil.

Khan's arrest on corruption charges in May, which he says was at the behest of the army in cahoots with the civilian government - both deny any political involvement - led to violent nationwide protests, attacks on an air base, military buildings, including the army's headquarters, and the burning of a top general's home, allegedly by the former prime minister's supporters.

The government and the military have vowed strict actions against all those involved in the violence. Several top leaders of Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), including Qureshi who is the party’s vice chairman, are under arrest under a law related to the maintenance of public order. All the leaders who have been set free have subsequently publicly distanced themselves from Khan, denounced the protests and praised the military.

“Inshallah tomorrow I will meet PTI chairman Imran Khan,” Qureshi told reporters after his release. “I spent a month in solitary confinement and got a lot of time to reflect … Whatever my analysis is on the political situation, I will put it before PTI Chairman Imran Khan and also seek his guidance.”

Qureshi has at least twice been released by the courts since his arrest but was rearrested immediately after.

There has been no mention of Khan on local television since the government issued a directive last week not to give airtime to "hate mongers, rioters, their facilitators and perpetrators". It did not name Khan. Most newspapers have also stopped covering him.

Khan's name was muted by all mainstream TV channels on Tuesday during Qureshi's press talk.