This comes in the wake of the arrest of Imran Khan and his indictment

 
Pakistan’s government has cracked down on deadly unrest in the wake of the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his indictment.

Police arrested supporters who took to the streets and the army deployed in several cities.

A court indicted the ousted prime minister on charges of selling state gifts during his four years in power.

The former cricket hero, who is Pakistan’s most popular politician according to opinion polls, was arrested on Tuesday in another fraud case, sparking deadly unrest.

Khan denies any wrongdoing.

His lawyer Babar Awan called his detention a “state abduction.”

The violence comes at a precarious time of severe economic crisis.

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or PTI party has called for a “shutdown” across the country of 220 million.

Police have arrested hundreds of Khan’s followers.

“Imran Khan’s arrest is illegal and unconstitutional,” PTI supporter Farhad Khan said. “The protests against it started last evening, continued through the night, and are still going on.
“The protesters will not stop until Imran Khan is released.”

Mobile data services were shut for a second day and access to Twitter, YouTube and Facebook was disrupted.

The army was called in to restore order in at least two of Pakistan four provinces where Khan is most popular.

“The protesters marched on us,” Chicken seller Malagul Khan said, as protestors stomped on his stall. “There was firing from the other side (police), and firing from this side (protesters), during which our shops got destroyed.

“What sin have we committed that these people vandalised our shops?

“We request these people to stop this destruction.

“We, the ordinary people, are not guilty of any crime. Where should we go?”

Khan’s arrest came a day after Pakistan’s powerful military rebuked him for repeatedly accusing a senior officer of trying to engineer his assassination and the former armed forces chief of being behind his removal from power.

Khan was ousted in April 2022 in a parliamentary no-confidence vote.

He has not slowed his campaign against the ouster even though he was wounded in a November attack on his convoy.

He was leading a protest march to Islamabad calling for snap general elections.

The corruption case is one of more than 100 registered against him.