Rangers arrested Imran Khan at Islamabad High Court; says report

According to Pakistani media, the rangers detained former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan outside the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday. 

According to reports, Khan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman, was brought into custody from a court premises in Islamabad in a corruption case.

“Imran Khan’s car has been surrounded,” Fawad Chaudhry, Khan’s aide, claimed without confirming his arrest. Marriyum Aurangzeb, the Information Minister, did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request to confirm the claim.

Another PTI leader, Azhar Mashwani, claimed that the Rangers had “abducted” Khan from within the court. He stated that the party had issued an immediate call for protests nationwide.

“Right now, they’re torturing Imran Khan […] they’re beating Khan sahib.” They did something with Khan sahib,” Cheema stated in a video message sent to the party’s Twitter account.

Khan’s detention comes a day after the Pakistan Army lambasted the former prime minister for making “highly irresponsible and baseless” charges against a serving ISI commander without providing any evidence, sparking a new round of verbal sparring between the strong military and the former prime leader.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media branch, also said in a strong statement that Khan’s “fabricated and malicious allegations are extremely unfortunate, deplorable, as well as unacceptable.”

“This has been a consistent pattern for the last year in which military and intelligence agency officials have been targeted with insinuations and sensational propaganda to further political objectives,” the report said.

The statement came just two days after the 70-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician charged spy agency ISI Gen Faisal Naseer of plotting his murder at a rally on Saturday.

Previously, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chastised the PTI head for “maligning and threatening” the army and intelligence agencies.

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