Imran Khan arrest witnesses heavy protest

Pakistani police scuffled with supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday as officers arrived outside his home to arrest him for failing to appear in court on graft charges, police and officials said.

Police in the eastern city of Lahore planned to serve Khan with a warrant to appear in court later this week. They fired tear gas at the house as the 71-year-old opposition leader’s supporters hurled rocks and bricks at the officers.

After 10 hours of clashes, police were no closer to arresting Khan and officers moved back at midnight as the number of Khan’s supporters grew.

About a dozen police and some 35 of Khan’s supporters were reported injured. Tear gas shells and pieces of bricks littered the pavement as Khan’s followers fought back with batons they had brought to resist police.

Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament last April, was ordered to appear before a judge in Islamabad on Friday to answer charges of illegally selling state gifts he had received during his term as premier and concealing his assets.

The former premier has avoided appearances before the court since November when he was wounded in a gun attack at a protest rally in the eastern Punjab province, claiming he was not medically fit to travel from Lahore to Islamabad to face indictment.

On Tuesday, Sharif told Pakistan’s Geo television that Khan’s arrest was ordered by a court, and it was not a political victimization.

From inside his home, Khan urged his followers to fight on even if he is arrested in a message on Twitter. “They think this nation will fall asleep when Imran Khan is jailed,” he said. “You need to prove them wrong.”

TV footage showed tear gas shells falling inside Khan’s house.

The ban says any recipient must deposit such a gift with the state repository, known as Toshakhana in the Urdu language, within a month of receiving it. The gifts would from now on be perceived as state property, it added.