Global Courant 2023-05-13 04:16:17
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was granted two weeks’ bail by the Islamabad High Court on Friday, a day after the Supreme Court ruled that his arrest on corruption charges was unlawful.
The ruling came in the wake of violent and unprecedented protests in Pakistan since Khan’s arrest on Monday.
Protests across the country have left at least six people dead and more than 150 injured. Khan’s party claims the numbers are much higher.
Police officers escort former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan as he arrives at the Supreme Court in Islamabad on May 12, 2023.
Aamir Qureshi/AFP via Getty Images
Much of protesters’ anger has been directed at Pakistan’s powerful military, which Khan said played a key role in his ousting from the government through a no-confidence vote in mid-April last year.
“The army itself feels quite divided in its political thinking,” retired Lieutenant General Talat Masood, a former three-star general in the Pakistan Army and current political commentator, told ABC News.
Khan, who led Pakistan from August 2018 to April 2022, faces hundreds of charges, mostly related to corruption. He has accused current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of being behind the charges and Khan still has strong support from many Pakistanis.
Earlier this week, angry protesters broke into the front gate of the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, an action that shocked a country accustomed to Pakistan’s military stronghold since its establishment in 1947. Protesters also looted and torched the official residence of the army commander on fire. in Lahore.
Police officers throw stones at supporters of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan during clashes in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, May 10, 2023.
AP
In response to the violent protests, the military said on Wednesday it will exercise “patience and restraint” in the national interest, but added that all “facilitators and planners” involved have been identified and will be punished under the law.
Thousands of Khan’s supporters gathered in the capital Islamabad on Friday to celebrate his temporary release.
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, center, is escorted by security officials as he arrives to appear before a court in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, May 12, 2023. A high court in Islamabad has granted Khan a two-week stay of arrest in a graft case and granted him bail on the charges.
Anjum Naveed/AP
Khan has called for snap elections across the country before the end of the ruling government’s term in August. But that seems unlikely now that the incumbent government is aware that it faces inflation, a collapsing economy, rising unemployment, poor governance and the looming threat of terrorism.
On Friday, a major paramilitary base in Baluchistan province was attacked by elite army commandos called in to handle the situation.
“The political situation couldn’t be more confrontational than what it is now,” said Masood, who added that he doesn’t see things getting any better with the current arrangement.
