Former Prime Minister and PTI Chief Imran Khan was unexpectedly arrested by paramilitary force Rangers on Tuesday while attending proceedings in two cases at the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The arrest sparked countrywide protests from his supporters, who clashed with security forces.
Khan was ousted from power last year after a Supreme Court verdict that nullified the NA’s speaker ruling. Since then Khan has accused the military of orchestrating a coup against him. He has been facing dozens of cases which he termed as politically motivated.
According to his lawyer, Khan was assaulted and pepper-sprayed by the Rangers, a paramilitary force that operates under the army’s command, as he was being taken away from the court. The defense attorney claimed that the Rangers broke into the room where Khan was undergoing a biometric verification process and kicked and punched him in the head.
The arrest led to an unusual backlash against the military, which has long controlled Pakistani politics and been accused of meddling in domestic issues. Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), asked citizens to “defend their country” and called for widespread demonstrations.
Imran’s arrest could hardly be viewed as a legal one which indicates what kind of “authoritarian state” Pakistan has become in the recent decades.
According to Section 24 of the NAB Ordinance, an arrest warrant may be issued if the accused is willfully refusing to cooperate with the investigation despite repeated requests, the accused is attempting to flee, there are good grounds for tampering with the evidence, or there is credible information that the offense will be repeated. None of the aforementioned situations seem to apply in this case.
Given the poor optics, the Establishment needs to assess the situation. One day Imran Khan accuses an army general of being involved in a plot against him, and the next day we witness a paramilitary group lay siege to the high court’s file area and clumsily arrest Imran Khan. We observe an arrest warrant being issued by a hand-picked NAB chairman for a case that has somehow managed to get the attention of the NAB despite being one of many involving politicians.
Every poll indicates that the former prime minister is the most popular politician in the country. The frightening and violent pictures that accompanied Imran Khan’s detention would be more common in an occupied territory. However, it’s possible that’s exactly who we are as a country.
Anyone who believes in the rule of law finds the way Imran Khan was taken into custody upsetting. The outrageous way the arrest was handled was not justified in any way. There are times when Pakistan’s lack of progress becomes glaringly obvious. Today is one of them.
