ISLAMABAD: Militants from Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are present at the Lahore residence of former prime minister Imran Khan, Punjab government's caretaker information minister Amir Mir said on Thursday, after two days of violent clashes between law enforcers and Khan supporters.
Clashes broke out between Khan supporters and law enforcers on Tuesday evening after police arrived at the former premier's Zaman Park residence in Lahore with court orders to arrest him. While Khan claims his supporters were unarmed and accused police of resorting to brutality, the interim Punjab government said Khan's supporters pelted law enforcers with stones and hurled petrol bombs at them.
Sessions court judge Zafar Iqbal had issued the non-bailable warrants following Khan’s repeated absence from the previous hearings of the Toshakhana reference, involving the sale of state gifts given by foreign leaders while Khan was prime minister. Khan aides say he does not attend court hearings due to security threats.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) halted the police operation to detain the ex-PM until Friday, as various courts in the country look into appeals against the warrants out for Khan.
In a news conference on Thursday, Punjab's Inspector-General Dr. Usman Anwar said the initial police contingent sent to take Khan into custody did not have weapons with them. However, he blamed the ex-premier's supporters for inciting clashes and attempting to turn his residence into a "no-go area."
Responding to a question, Anwar said Khan had 12 persons with him as part of the former premier's security detail and that the ministers who came to meet him also had their own security escorts.
"The 12 people he had with him have been withdrawn," Mir told reporters. "Not only this, we also have information that apart from them, there are also people from KP there. And they are militants," he added.
He said one of the persons at Khan's residence belonged to the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi group. Mir said this person used to serve as deceased radical cleric Sufi Muhammad's "right hand man" and had been in jail for the past eight years.
"He is now part of a political party and the chief minister of KP had inducted him," he said. "So, such are also present there [at Khan's residence] and when this operation concludes, God willing, action will be taken against all such people."
Anwar said over 60 police officers have been injured in the clashes with protesters. He added that the number of injured among Khan's supporters were fewer than this, saying that they had been wounded due to "their own actions."
Speaking to supporters outside his residence, Khan said the government wanted to imprison him and then hold elections so his political opponents could win. "What is this drama taking place in front of the entire world, are we terrorists," Khan said. "And they [government] have handpicked those police officers who are criminals," he added.
