From May 9th, 2020, to May 11th, 2023, huge protests took place throghout all Pakistan. The reason for these was the detention of the ex Prime Minister, Imran Khan, under corruption allegations.
Source: OK! News https://web.telegram.org/k/#@oknewspress
Thousands of Imran Khan’s supporters, belonging to his Tehreek-e-Insaf party, rampaged through many cities during two days. Through these two days, they set fire to buildings and burned tires. They also broke onto military facilities and seized the homes of army personnel to burn them. The army was deployed to Punjab and Islamabad. The protests resulted in at least nine people killed, at the same time hundreds of police officers were injured. Two thousand people were arrested. Most of this happened in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces.
Khan was arrested back on May 9th, while he was going to the court to ask for a freedom under bail measure. He was arrested under corruption allegations, after months of a political crisis during which he fought the Pakistani military establishment. He was also accused of terrorism, for supposedly inciting his backers to carry out violent protests.
Imran Khan in court. Source: Lord of War
The ex Prime Minister was ousted on April 2022, after losing support of the Pakistani military. The army has accused him and his supporters of crossing a red line, since military property was “systematically attacked”, at the time “anti military slogans were raised”. Six of his party were also arrested for “inciting arson and violent protests”. The army has warned it will carry out more arrests. Among those, it was the Tehreek-e-Insaf party’s president and exchancellor, Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Source: Lobo Basado News
The Pakistani Supreme Court declared invalid the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. However, he will be in freedom under bail, and he was ordered to remain in custody of the court for his own safety. This custody would remain until May 12th, 2023. The police justified this as a measure to keep Khan out of public in order to keep law and order. The court asked the ex Prime Minister to appeal to his backers to remain peaceful.
Source: Global Nexus News
The protests have had a big impact in Pakistan. For example, the Interior Minister ordered mobile internet services cut and social media services restricted. Countries like the US issued travel advisories. Schools were closed, and the school year has been cancelled.
Pakistan has been facing an economic crisis, partly due last year’s political crisis. Back on Tuesday, the ruppee lost value against the dollar.
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