Police in Pakistan besiege Imran Khan’s home after suspect handover deadline expires
LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistani police kept up a siege around the home of Imran Khan as a 24-hour deadline given to the former premier to hand over suspects allegedly sheltered inside expired Thursday.
The siege and the authorities’ demand for the suspects, wanted in connection with violent protests over Khan’s recent detention, have angered the former prime minister’s many followers and raised concerns about more clashes between them and security forces.
Last week, Khan’s supporters attacked public property and military installations after he was dragged out of a courtroom and arrested in a graft case. At least 10 people were killed in clashes with police across the country in the days that followed. The violence subsided only when Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered Khan’s release.
The popular opposition leader was freed from custody over the weekend and returned to his home in an upscale district of Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city and the capital of the Punjab region. Dozens of his supporters have been staying there with him, along with private guards. Police, who surrounded the residence Wednesday, say they want 40 suspects handed over.
Hours after the ultimatum expired, Hassan Javed, a senior police official, told reporters that officers were waiting for a signal from the government to launch the raid. He said police captured at least eight suspects after they left Khan’s house and tried to escape via a nearby canal.
Typically, between 200 to 300 stick-wielding supporters guard Khan’s residence around the clock, but most disappeared overnight. Police have blocked off a key road leading to the house and asked residents to use an alternate route.
Pakistan is in turmoil following the arrest of popular opposition leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
“Probably my last tweet before my next arrest,” the 70-year-old Khan tweeted Wednesday after the siege started. “Police have surrounded my house.”
Later, he addressed his supporters, saying that police could search his house only with a warrant and “not barge in, creating chaos.”
According to Amir Mir, a spokesman for the Punjab provincial government, police were ready to use firearms if attacked. He told a news conference Thursday that at least 3,400 suspects linked to the clashes have been arrested and that more raids are planned.
Pakistani authorities have said they would prosecute civilians involved in recent anti-government protests in military courts.
The power went out in much of Pakistan after an overnight energy-saving measure by the government led to a failure to reboot the grid after daybreak.
The announcement has drawn criticism from the advocacy group Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, which oppose trials of civilians in the military courts. Military trials in Pakistan are usually held behind closed doors, depriving civilians of some of their basic rights, including contracting a lawyer of their choice.
Khan was ousted by a no-confidence vote in the parliament last year. He has alleged that the ouster was illegal and a Western conspiracy.
He now faces more than 100 legal cases, mainly charges of inciting people to violence, threatening officials and defying a ban on rallies. He also faces a graft case along with his wife and was summoned by the National Accountability Bureau to answer questions in connection with the case Thursday.
But Khan informed the agency that he could not attend because he was busy trying to secure protection from arrest in many of the cases against him. In his written reply to the agency, he said its probe against him was politically motivated.
He is expected to address a rally of supporters on the outskirts of Lahore later in the day.
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