Islamabad: The Pakistani police have fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd protesting against the detention of the former Pakistani prime minister and the chairman of the country’s opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, in several cities of the country, the Geo broadcaster reported.
The Pakistani authorities said on Monday that Imran Khan had been taken into custody following a hearing of the Islamabad High Court in the Al-Qadir Trust case. PTI called on citizens of Pakistan to gather for mass protests, demanding Khan’s release. On Tuesday, Pakistan’s authorities said Khan was facing an inquiry by the National Accountability Bureau in the Al-Qadir Trust case, related to a settlement between the PTI government and a property tycoon, which reportedly caused a loss of 50 billion Pakistani rupees ($17.6 million) to the national exchequer.
According to the report, the police have used tear gas and water cannons in the city of Karachi in the country’s south, as well as in the cities of Lahore and Faisalabad in the northwest. Protesters have blocked streets in the cities of Islamabad and Peshawar.
Protesters have been setting police vehicles on fire and damaging government property in Charsadda, Karachi, Lahore, and other cities, the report said.
In October 2022, Pakistan’s election commission stripped Khan of his parliamentary mandate as well as the right to be elected and appointed to both the country’s federal and regional legislatures for five years after it found him guilty of selling 52 valuables stored in Toshakhana, the Pakistani state treasury, and hiding information about gifts that he received personally. In April 2022, then-opposition leader Nawaz Sharif said that Khan had sold state treasures in Dubai with a total value of 140 million Pakistani rupees.
