Global Courant 2023-05-12 23:29:30
ISLAMABAD – Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was released on bail by the Islamabad High Court on Friday after his arrest on corruption charges this week sparked deadly clashes before being declared illegal.
The court also granted Khan bail in other pending cases and ruled that he could not be re-arrested until Monday.
Several thousand of his supporters have rampaged through towns across the country since Tuesday to protest Khan’s detention, setting fire to buildings, blocking roads and clashing with police outside military installations.
“The head of the country’s largest party has been kidnapped, kidnapped from the Supreme Court and for the entire nation,” Khan told AFP from the courthouse.
“They treated me like a terrorist, this had to have a reaction,” he said of the protests that followed.
He left the courthouse around 10:30 pm – hours after the hearings ended – to travel to the city of Lahore, some 380 kilometers from the capital, his Pakistani party Tehreek-e-Insaf said.
Islamabad police had previously tweeted that they were responsible for Khan’s safety and were clearing roads, while officers used tear gas to contain protesters who had gathered a few miles from the heavily guarded court.
Gunshots were fired at officers in the dark, police added, without giving further details.
Khan has been entangled in a slew of legal charges – a common threat to opposition members in Pakistan – since he was removed from power in April last year.
He had launched an unprecedented campaign of defiance against the military, which independent analysts say helped him rise from power and fall.
General elections are due in October and the former cricket star has accused the shaky coalition government of pushing him in cahoots with top generals.
The 70-year-old has also made explosive claims that they were puppeteers in a November assassination attempt in which he was shot in the leg while campaigning for quick polls.
Khan was taken into custody by paramilitary forces before the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday, but the Supreme Court later declared the arrest illegal and demanded that the trial be “overturned”.
