ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s
former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested Tuesday as he appeared in a court in the country’s capital, Islamabad, to face charges in multiple graft cases. Security agents dragged Khan outside and shoved him into an armored car before whisking him away.
The arrest, which marks a dramatic escalation on Pakistan’s political scene, drew nationwide condemnation from supporters of the popular opposition leader and former cricket star turned Islamist politician.
Khan was dragged outside the Islamabad High Court and pushed into a police vehicle by agents from the National Accountability Bureau, according to Fawad Chaudhry, a senior official with Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.
Chaudhry denounced the arrest as “an abduction.” Pakistan’s independent GEO TV broadcast images of the 72-year-old Khan being pulled by security forces towards an armored vehicle, which took him away.
Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022. He has claimed his ouster was illegal and a Western conspiracy and has campaigned against the government of his successor, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, demanding early elections.
After Khan was taken away, a scuffle broke out between Khan’s supporters and police outside the court. Chaudhry said some of Khan’s lawyers and supporters were injured in the scuffle, as were several policemen. Khan’s party immediately complained to the Islamabad High Court, which requested a police report explaining the charges for Khan’s arrest.
Officials from the anti-corruption body said that Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau had issued arrest warrants for Khan last week in a separate graft case, for which he had not obtained bail — something that would protect him from arrest under the country’s laws. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Khan would be brought to appear before an anti-graft tribunal later on Tuesday.
Khan was later moved to the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, where he was to be questioned at the offices of the National Accountability Bureau. He was also to undergo a medical checkup, according to procedure, police said.
Khan had arrived in Islamabad earlier on Tuesday from the nearby city of Lahore, where he resides, to face charges before the Islamabad High Court in multiple graft cases. He has claimed that the cases, which include terrorism charges, are a plot by Sharif’s government to discredit him.
The arrest came hours after Khan issued a video message before heading to Islamabad, saying he was “mentally prepared” for arrest — an indication he may have known what awaited him in the capital.