Convoys of buses and vehicles filled with government supporters yesterday flooded the main road leading to Islamabad to protest the release of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan.
Thousands made their way to the Supreme Court for a rare sit-in against its decision to give Khan, now opposition leader, an “undue reprieve” following his arrest in a graft case. Khan, 70, was released on bail and given protection from arrest until later this month.
The call to protest was a sign of escalating tensions between the judiciary and the government of Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who replaced Khan after his ouster in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April last year.
Photo: AFP
Pakistan Democratic Movement, an alliance of 13 political parties affiliated with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, had called for the sit-in. The radical Islamist political party Jamiat-e-Ulema-Islam is leading the protest call.
Pakistan People’s Party, led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari — the son of assassinated prime minister Benazir Bhutto — also joined the alliance’s protest.
The call to protest came, despite a ban on rallies and public gatherings that the government imposed in the wake of the crisis.
“Our peaceful protest is against Chief Justice [Umar Ata Bandial] for facilitating the release of Imran Khan,” Pakistan Democratic Alliance head Fazalur Rehman said.
As he spoke, more than 3,000 supporters had already gathered near the sprawling court building.
In a televised statement, Pakistani Minister of Defence Khawaja Mohammad Asif accused the Supreme Court of siding with Khan. He suggested the court “examine the conduct of the chief justice” and take legal action against him.
From his home in the eastern city of Lahore, where he returned to following his release, Khan yesterday wrote on Twitter that the sit-in was being orchestrated to remove the chief justice.
Khan was dramatically arrested from a courtroom in Islamabad and dragged out by agents of the National Accountability Bureau on Tuesday last week on charges of accepting millions of dollars of property in exchange for providing benefits to a real-estate tycoon.
Khan’s arrest triggered a wave of violent protests across Pakistan. Supporters of Khan and his Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf party clashed with police, set fire to scores of police vehicles and burned down government buildings and even military facilities, including the residence of a top regional army commander in the eastern city of Lahore.
Khan was expected to appear in court in Lahore later yesterday, along with his wife, Bushra Bibi, to seek bail and protection from arrest in terrorism cases filed against him because of last week’s violence instigated by his supporters.
Bibi also faces possible arrest in the case related to Malik Riaz, the business tycoon, as both she and Khan are implicated in real-estate acquisition from the magnate during Khan’s term in office. Khan has denied the allegations.
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
At first, Francis Ari Sture thought a human was trying to shove him down the steep Norwegian mountainside. Then he saw the golden eagle land. “We are staring at each other for, maybe, a whole minute,” Sture said on Monday. “I’m trying to think what’s in its mind.” The bird then attacked Sture five more times on Thursday last week, scratching and clawing the 31-year-old bicycle courier’s face and arms over 10 to 15 minutes as he sprinted down the mountain. The same eagle is believed to be responsible for attacks on three other people across a vast mountainous area of southern Norway
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
RSS