LAHORE: After the failure of the police to arrest Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, a heavy contingent of Punjab Rangers reached the former prime minister’s Zaman Park residence to execute court orders.
A day earlier, at least 33 policemen were injured when PTI supporters clashed with police overnight as they barricaded themselves in their residence in Zaman Park, thwarting efforts to arrest them.
Police fought a pitched battle with Khan’s PTI supporters near his residence throughout the night, firing tear gas shells and dodging stones hurled by angry mobs.
A police operation to implement the court orders began on Tuesday when a heavy contingent cordoned off the area, however, an angry mob refused to give law enforcers any chance to arrest their leader. done.
‘They will come again’
In a video shared on PTI’s Twitter account shortly before dawn, Khan is seen sitting opposite Pakistan and waving party flags on a table decorated with spent tear gas canisters.
He said that I am telling the whole nation today that they are ready again, they are coming again.
اپنی قوم کے لئے میرا پیغام!pic.twitter.com/Dv3i9X0S1J
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) March 14, 2023
“They will teargas our people and do other such things, but you should know that they have no justification to do so.”
“The way the police attack our people… there is no precedent for this,” Khan said.
“Water canons, teargas… they shelled inside the house where there were servants and women.”
The PTI chief claimed that he was not appearing at the F-8 Katcheri as terrorists had targeted the facility twice.
“They know I did not appear because of security, now they are preparing again,” said the PTI chief.
The former prime minister also claimed that in order to “avoid anarchy”, he had signed an undertaking and his counsel Ishtiaq A Khan tried presenting the surety to the Islamabad police deputy inspector general (DIG) sent to arrest him.
“And as per code of criminal procedure’s section 76 if a surety bond is given to arresting officer then he cannot make the arrest,” said the PTI chief.
He further claimed that after this there was no reason for the police to arrest him. However, the PTI chief alleged that the DIG refused to take the bond on purpose as his arrest was part of the “London plan”.
“In the London plan, it has been decided to put Imran Khan in jail, defeat PTI, and finish all cases of Nawaz Sharif. Putting me in jail is part of the London plan. This has no relation with the law and I have not committed any crime,” said the PTI chief.
Bloodthirsty supporter
The video circulating on social media – mostly shared by PTI’s official accounts – shows several bloodied supporters and others struggling to deal with tear gas.
A PTI official tweeted that there was an “urgent need” for first aid kits in the Zaman Park neighborhood.
A party account also showed video of tear gas canisters landing inside Khan’s garden, but police were not seen breaching the gate or wall.
It is the second time in recent weeks that police have been sent from Islamabad to Khan’s home in Lahore to issue an arrest warrant after he skipped several court dates citing security concerns.
“We are primarily here to execute the warrant and arrest him,” DIG Islamabad Police Syed Shahzad Nadeem Bukhari told reporters outside Khan’s residence on Tuesday.
Hundreds of Khan’s supporters met the officers, some carrying sticks and throwing stones, draped in red and green PTI flags.
Police fired water cannons and tear gas at the crowd as they tried to clear the way to Khan’s house, which had plastered signs with an arrest warrant for the 70-year-old opposition leader.
