As someone fired fire from the building`s top on Saturday, Pakistani police invaded the home of former prime minister Imran Khan in the country`s eastern city of Lahore and detained 30 people in the midst of tear gas shelling.
Suhail Sukhera, a senior police officer, claimed that officers took action to remove blockades and encroachments that Khan`s Tehreek-e-Insaf party and his obstinate supporters had created.
Sukhera said that police broke open the main door of Khan’s residence and found masks, petrol-filled bottles, iron rods and batons used in attacks on police during the week. Sukhera said that inside the sprawling residence, illegal structures were erected to shelter those who have been involved in attacks on police that have injured dozens of officers.
Witnesses said police attempted to disperse Khan supporters by firing tear gas and chased them to several homes in the upscale neighborhood of Zaman Park. Khan was expected to appear in an Islamabad court on Saturday after a top court Friday suspended his arrest warrant, giving him a reprieve to travel to Islamabad and face charges in a graft case without being detained.
After missing an earlier hearing in the case, Khan has been hiding out at his Lahore residence since Tuesday. To prevent the former premier from being arrested, his followers engaged in a two-day stone-throwing and brawl with police using batons.
The 70-year-old opposition leader Khan claimed in a video message that the government had planned to arrest him despite his journey to a hearing when he was on the way to Islamabad. He claimed that while his wife was home alone, police broke into his Lahore home. He demanded those guilty be punished by the law and denounced the action.
Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament last April (2022). He is accused of selling state gifts while in office and concealing assets. It’s one in a string of cases that the former cricket star turned Islamist politician has been facing since his ouster.
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