ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top court on Thursday said the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan from the premises of the Islamabad High Court earlier this week was illegal and ordered his immediate release, as fresh clashes broke down between the ex-premier’s supporters and police in the federal capital.
Khan was arrested on Tuesday afternoon by Rangers on the orders of the country’s anti-graft body, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which is investigating Khan and his wife in a case involving a land bribe. Over 100 cases have been registered against Khan since he was removed from the PM’s office in April last year in a parliamentary no-trust vote. He says the cases are politically motivated.
Khan’s arrest sparked two days of protests in Pakistan in which at least six people have been killed. Supporters blocked roads across the country, torched trucks and cars in the streets, clashed with police and ransacked and damaged multiple government buildings, including military properties. In response, authorities have arrested almost 3,000 people across the country.
On Wednesday, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) challenged his arrest in the Supreme Court, which a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial took up on Thursday, declaring the arrest “illegal” and asking Khan to refer back to the IHC.
Though Khan was released from custody, he will be under the protection of security forces at a safe location in Islamabad, the head of his legal team, Babar Awan, told reporters. He is to appear before the Islamabad High Court tomorrow, Friday, Awan said.
Earlier, before Khan arrived in the court, Bandial said his arrest from inside the IHC on Tuesday had “violated the sanctity” of the judiciary.
“Where did the sanctity of the court go when Khan was arrested from the court premises,” the chief justice remarked during the hearing. “What was left of the honor of the court when 90 people entered the court premises? NAB has disrespected the court.”
The chief justice said no one would feel safe when visiting a court in the future, adding:
“No one can be arrested from the high court, Supreme Court, or the accountability court … Imran Khan’s arrest has violated judicial sanctity.”
The PTI welcomed the court decision and said it would “decide the next political course of action after consultation.”
“Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf believes in peaceful political struggle,” the party said in a statement, adding that it hoped “all institutions will strictly follow the orders of the Supreme Court and take care of the security of Chairman Imran Khan.”
Police filed new terrorism charges on Thursday against Khan and top leaders from his party on charges of inciting mobs to violence.
Not long after the SC ordered Khan’s release, his supporters poured into the streets of Islamabad to celebrate the development and there were reports of fresh clashes and tear gas shelling by security forces.
The government has called in the army to Islamabad and the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to maintain law and order since the protests broke out.
Maryam Nawaz Sharif, a senior leader of the PMLN party of PM Shehbaz Sharif, lashed out at the chief justice on Twitter, saying he was “pouring fuel on the fire in the country.”
“You should leave the post of chief justice and join Tehreek-e-Insaf,” Maryam said.
The top court’s latest decision to release Khan is likely to deepen the rift between the coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and the country’s higher judiciary, who have been at loggerheads ever since the Supreme Court took up cases of delays in announcing elections in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, whose legislative assemblies were dissolved by Khan and his allies in January to force the government to announce early national elections.
The court has ruled that the polls should be held in both provinces within 90 days of the dissolution of their assemblies, as per the constitution, while the Sharif government insists all elections in the country should be held on the same date in October when general elections are scheduled.
In defiance of court orders, the government has refused to release funds worth Rs21 billion and arrange security in time for the Punjab elections on May 14, the date given by the Supreme Court.
