 "A supporter of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan hurls back a tear gas shell toward police as he and others were protesting against the arrest of their leader, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Wednesday, May 10, 2023. (Photo: AP/PTI)")
Since the arrest of the former prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, on May 9, Pakistan has been witnessing widespread protests and violence from the supporters of his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). Mobile internet remains suspended across the country for an indefinite period.
Violent clashes between Khan's supporters and security forces have left at least seven people dead and nearly 300 injured across Pakistan.
Widespread protests, violence
As the news of Khan's arrest spread, protests broke out in several cities across Pakistan. Protesters at several places turned violent and burned police vehicles, and damaged public property.
Khan's supporters smashed the main gate of the army's sprawling headquarters in Rawalpindi, where troops exercised restraint. The protesters chanted slogans against the establishment.
In Lahore, a large number of PTI workers stormed into the Corps Commander Lahore's residence and smashed the gate and window panes. However, the army personnel on duty there did not try to stop the enraged protesters who surrounded them and chanted slogans against the "handlers" of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) or PML-N-led government in the military establishment.
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The protesters held a demonstration in the Cantonment area.
Lahore was virtually cut off from the rest of the province because of the protest on main roads, including the entry and exit points.
The caretaker Punjab government called the Rangers to control the law-and-order situation in the province and imposed section 144, under which not more than five people can gather at one point. The Punjab government also requested the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to suspend Internet and mobile services in the areas of the province where violent protests took place.
Many PTI workers also pelted stones at the residence of Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah in Faisalabad City. Similarly, protests were held in Multan, Jhang, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Khanewal, Vehari, Gujranwala, Hafizabad and Gujrat cities.
The next day, on Wednesday, PTI called for a countrywide strike to protest against the "fascist government". The party also said that it would challenge the ruling of the Islamabad High Court, calling the arrest legal, in the country's Supreme Court.
The same day, they filed a petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan challenging the Islamabad HC's ruling.
ISPR calls the developments a "black chapter"
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, then issued a statement terming the events that unfolded as a "black chapter" in the country's history.
The ISPR in the statement issued in Urdu, referred to the protests that were held after the arrest of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. The ISPR said that the protests particularly targeted army property and installations.
In a strongly-worded statement, the Pakistan military's media wing asserted that no one would be allowed to take the law into their own hands. Citing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) statement and law, the ISPR justified the arrest of Khan.
ISPR said that a wave of attacks was witnessed on the army's properties and installations, along with anti-army slogans being chanted following the arrest of Imran Khan. It condemned those actions and raised its concerns regarding the tactics used by certain elements within the protesting groups.
Guterres calls on parties to refrain from violence
On Wednesday, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres took note of the ongoing protests in Pakistan, urged the authorities to respect due process, and called for all parties to refrain from violence.
Protesters attack Pakistan PM's house
On Wednesday, the supporters of Khan attacked the Lahore residence of Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif. According to police, over 500 miscreants from PTI reached the Model Town Lahore residence of the prime minister in the early hours of the day and set ablaze vehicles parked over there.
"They also threw petrol bombs inside the premiere's house," a senior police officer of Punjab police told PTI on Wednesday.
The police official said only the guards were present at the prime minister's house when the miscreants attacked. They also set fire to a police post there.
"As a heavy contingent of police reached there, the PTI protesters left," he said.
Before reaching the prime minister's residence, the mob attacked the ruling PML-N Secretariat in Model Town, torching the vehicles parked over there. They also put the barriers there on fire.
Police said that the protesters set on fire 14 government installations/buildings and 21 police vehicles in Punjab during the last two days.
Sharif later addressed the nation and condemned the deadly protests by Khan's supporters after his arrest in a corruption case and warned to deal with demonstrators with an "iron fist".
They will be given an exemplary punishment, he said.
Pakistan's government then called out the military in areas roiled by deadly violence.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi arrested
On Thursday, former Pakistan foreign minister and PTI vice chairman Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi was arrested by the Islamabad police and transferred to an unknown location.
"Tehreek-e-Insaf Vice Chairman Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi has been arrested by the Islamabad Police and transferred to an unknown location," the party tweeted on Thursday.
The PTI leader was taken into custody from the Gilgit-Baltistan House in Islamabad after a failed attempt by the police on Wednesday afternoon.
(With agency inputs)
