Khan was wrongfully arrested in a case of corruption, according to the Supreme Court.
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| Image Source - Google | Image by <br><a href= Aljazeera |
Two days after his incarceration on corruption charges sparked violent protests, Pakistan's Supreme Court declared that the former prime minister's arrest was unlawful and commanded that he be immediately freed.
After the decision on Thursday, there was a noticeable decrease in violence across the nation, despite a short altercation between Khan's jubilant supporters and police outside the Supreme Court building.
However, the government criticized the decision and declared that it was resolved to use other legal means to apprehend the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party's leader.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) detained Khan, 70, in a corruption case during a court appearance on Tuesday, sparking violent protests throughout the nation and forcing the government to bring in the army to assist restore calm.
Supporters of the PTI have engaged in violence with police around the nation, and individuals have targeted military and government buildings. One group attempted to raid the military's major headquarters while another set fire to a key general's Lahore home.
During the battles, more than 2,000 people have been detained, at least 11 other people have died, and others have been hurt.
The PTI leader has been detained in the Police Lines facility in Islamabad since his arrest, and the court ordered that he be held there under police protection.
In order to have the Islamabad High Court rethink its earlier decision that the arrest was valid, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Umar Ata Bandial requested that Khan come there on Friday. Khan may also request the court's protection against further arrest on suspicion of corruption.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan declared on Pakistan's Dunya TV, "We will arrest him again," possibly on accusations of instigating the uprising that had been issued the day before.
Government representatives attacked the decision, with some claiming the chief justice was biased in favor of Khan. Azam Tarar, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, told reporters that Chief Justice Bandial "should now hoist the flag of Imran Khan's party on the Supreme Court, or he should declare that the court is a suboffice of Imran's party."
Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif referred to it as a "special reprieve" for the former prime minister and said that the court disregarded the attacks that his followers had made on government and military facilities.
As of Thursday, authorities had detained at least three other top members of Khan's PTI party, including a former foreign minister who served in his cabinet from 2018 to 2022.
In a separate corruption case, in which Khan is charged with unlawfully selling government goods while serving as prime minister, he was also indicted on Wednesday.
The administration has filed more than 100 police cases against Khan after his ouster from office in April 2022 as a result of his defeat in a vote of no-confidence in parliament.
In the meanwhile, two of Pakistan's four provinces' schools and offices were shut down, and mobile data connections were still not restored. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media sites have been banned.
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| Image Source - Google | Image by <br><a href= Aljazeera |
Rights organizations have asked Pakistan to use caution in handling the demonstrations and to reopen the internet.
Patricia Gossman, assistant Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement on Thursday that the Pakistani government "should uphold the right to peaceful protest while responding to violence with the least amount of force necessary."
Arif Alvi, the president of Pakistan and a prominent PTI figure, expressed his "alarm, shock, and deeply disturbed" about the state of affairs in the nation.
"Every Pakistani citizen has the constitutional right to protest, but it must always be done legally. The way certain criminals have harmed government and military structures, in particular, is unacceptable, the president stated in a statement on Thursday.
