Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested on May 9 as he appeared in court to face charges in multiple graft cases, a dramatic escalation of political tensions in the country that sparked demonstrations by his supporters in at least three cities.
Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 but remains the leading opposition figure, was dragged from the Islamabad High Court by security agents from the National Accountability Bureau, said Fawad Chaudhry, a senior official with his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Khan was shoved into an armoured car and whisked away.
Chaudhry denounced the arrest of the 71-year-old former cricket star as “an abduction.” Pakistan’s independent GEO TV broadcast video of Khan being hauled away.
Afterward, a scuffle broke out between Khan’s supporters and police outside the court. Some of Khan’s lawyers and supporters were injured in the melee, as were several police, Chaudhry said. Khan’s party complained to the court, which requested a police report explaining the charges for Khan’s arrest.
Khan was taken to the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, for questioning at the offices of the National Accountability Bureau, according to police and government officials. He was also set to undergo a routine medical checkup, police said.
Khan had arrived at the Islamabad High Court from nearby Lahore, where he lives, to face charges in the graft cases. He has denounced the cases against him, which include terrorism charges, as a politically motivated plot by his successor, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, saying his ouster was illegal and a Western conspiracy. Khan has campaigned against Sharif and demanded early elections.
Tuesday’s arrest was based on a new warrant from the National Accountability Bureau obtained last week in a separate graft case for which Khan had not obtained bail, making him vulnerable to arrest. He is scheduled to appear before an anti-graft tribunal on Wednesday, officials said.
“Imran Khan has been arrested because he was being sought in a graft case,” Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan told a news conference. He alleged Pakistan’s treasury had lost millions of dollars while Khan was in office due to illegal purchases of lands from a business tycoon.
As the news of the arrest spread, about 4,000 of Khan’s supporters stormed the official residence of the top regional commander in Lahore, smashing windows and doors, damaging furniture and staging a sit-in as troops there retreated to avoid violence. The protesters also burned police vehicles and blocked key roads.
Protesters also smashed the main gate of the army’s headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where troops exercised restraint. Hundreds of demonstrators shouted pro-Khan slogans as they moved toward the sprawling building. In the port city of Karachi, police swung batons and fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Khan supporters who had gathered on a key road.
Raoof Hasan, another leader from Khan’s party, told Al Jazeera English television that the arrest is “blatant interference in the judicial affairs by the powers-that-be.” Hasan added that Khan “was virtually abducted from the court of law.”
Khan’s arrest came hours after he issued a video message before heading to Islamabad, saying he was “mentally prepared” for arrest there. Khan was wounded by a gunman at a rally in November, an attack that killed one of his supporters and wounded 13. He has insisted, without offering any evidence, that there is a plot to assassinate him, alleging that Pakistan’s spy agency was behind the conspiracy. The gunman was immediately arrested and police later released a video of him in custody, allegedly saying he had acted alone.
In a strongly worded statement Monday, the military accused Khan of “fabricated and malicious allegations” of its involvement in the November shooting, saying they are “extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable.”
The military has directly ruled Pakistan for more than half of the 75 years since the country gained independence from British colonial rule, and wields considerable power over civilian governments. Sharif, whose government faces spiraling economic woes and is struggling to recover from last year’s devastating floods that killed hundreds and caused $30 billion in damage, slammed Khan for assailing the military.
“Let this be abundantly clear that you, as former prime minister, currently on trial for corruption, are claiming legitimacy to overturn the legal and political system,” Sharif tweeted after Khan’s arrest.
Khan is the seventh former Prime Minister to be arrested in Pakistan. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was arrested and hanged in 1979. The current Prime Minister’s brother, Nawaz Sharif, who also served as Prime Minister, was arrested several times on corruption allegations.
In March, police stormed Khan’s Lahore residence, seeking to arrest him based on a court order in a different case. Dozens of people, including police, were injured in ensuing clashes. Khan was not arrested at the time and later obtained bail in the case.
Khan came to power in 2018 after winning parliamentary elections and had initially good relations with the military which gradually soured.
Supreme Court says India is ranked 161 in press freedom; govt says it depends on who does the ranking
The Centre on May 9 told the Supreme Court that it can give India the first rank in press freedom and such ranking depends on who is giving them. The remark was in response to the Supreme Court’s observation that India has fallen to the 161st position out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index published by the non-profit organisation, Reporters Without Borders.
“India is 161 in ranking in journalistic freedom,” Justice K.M. Joseph, heading a three-judge Bench, addressed the Union and Gujarat governments, represented by Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, during a hearing in the Bilkis Bano case. According to the World Press Freedom Index, India is ranked behind countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia.
“That depends on who is giving the rating. I can have my own forum and give India the first rating,” Mehta responded. The exchange came while the Supreme Court ordered the publication of a notice giving the details of the case and the next date of court hearing, July 10, in two vernacular papers in Gujarat to alert those unserved among the 11 convicts who were released prematurely from their life imprisonment. They had been found guilty of the gangrape of Bano and the murder of her family members. Bano and other writ petitioners have separately challenged their remission.
The discussion was on the choice of the two newspapers and their circulation in Gujarat. Mehta said there were local papers published daily evening in every city of Gujarat.
Justice Joseph said there were one lakh newspapers published weekly in the country.
The hearing, at one point, saw the Supreme Court wonder whether some of the released convicts were making a “mockery” of or even “playing” with the court by either going incognito to hamper the serving of notice of the case on them or seeking time to file counter affidavits.
Previous hearings have been a no go with lawyers for the men seeking adjournment on procedural grounds. One of the convicts was untraceable with his phone switched off. His relatives had refused to accept notice on his behalf, advocate Shobha Gupta, representing Bano, said.
The court decided to publish the notice in the newspapers so that the released convicts would not take the plea of ignorance and the case could go ahead and be heard on merits. In the previous hearing, Justice Joseph, who has his last working day as Supreme Court judge on May 19, said it was “more than obvious” that the released convicts were resorting to these procedural or technical objections in successive court hearings to avoid his Bench.
The Kerala Story release | Supreme Court agrees to hear plea against Kerala HC order on May 15
The Supreme Court on May 9 agreed to list on May 15 an appeal filed against Kerala High Court’s refusal to stay the screening of the film The Kerala Story. Appearing before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, senior advocate Kapil Sibal made a mentioning for the early listing of the appeal, saying the issues required the urgent attention of the apex court.
“This concerns the film ‘The Kerala Story’. The Kerala High Court had refused to pass an order of interim stay. There is some urgency in this matter,” Sibal submitted. Refusing to stay the release of the movie on May 5, the High Court had emphasised on “artistic freedom” and the need to strike a balance.
The High Court had watched the trailer and found nothing offensive against a particular community. It had said the movie made it clear that it was only “inspired by true events” and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had already cleared it for public viewing.
On May 4, the Supreme Court had refused to intervene in multiple challenges against The Kerala Story, saying it had to be very cautious, even reluctant, while dealing with petitions seeking to ban the screening of a film. The apex court had said the public would ultimately decide the value and worth of a film.
The Bench led by Chief Justice Chandrachud had asked petitioners to consider the money “sunk” into the project by the film’s makers and the labour put in by the actors. Multiple petitioners have argued that the film demonised the entire Muslim community, particularly Muslim youth, with a “malicious propaganda” that 32000 girls in Kerala were lured through ‘love jihad’ and trafficked to West Asia to join ISIS.
At least 22 people killed, 31 injured as bus falls from bridge in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone; ex-gratia announced
At least 22 people were killed and 31 injured when a bus descended on a dry river bed after falling from a bridge in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone on May 9. The incident took place at 8:40 a.m. when the bus, carrying over 50 passengers, and going towards Indore from Khargone’s Shrikhandi village, hit the protective railing, causing it to break and then fall on the bed of Borad river near Dongargaon village.
The matter was reported to the police, and the injured were taken to the district hospital in Khargone, where many of the survivors are still under treatment. Earlier the State Home Minister Nariottam Mishra had said that 15 people had died. While providing an update later, Khargone collector Shivraj Singh Verma said that 22 people had died, while 31 were injured.
It is learnt that the driver and cleaner of the bus are among the deceased even as the investigations into the accident are underway. Investigators said that the overloading angle was also being looked into. The bus belongs to a private travel company.
The State Government announced immediate financial assistance of ₹4 lakh each to the families of the deceased, ₹50,000 each to the seriously injured, and ₹25,000 each to those who received minor injuries in the accident.
Female cheetah translocated from South Africa dies in MP’s Kuno National Park; third fatality in 42 days
Female cheetah ‘Daksha’, translocated to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park from South Africa, died on May 9, a forest official said.
Daksha became the third cheetah to die in the KNP. Earlier, a female cheetah and a male cheetah died on March 27 and April 23, respectively. “Daksha was found in injured condition in the morning by a monitoring team of KNP. She was immediately given necessary medication and treatment but she died around 12 noon,” the official said.
Daksha was released in enclosure number one and two male cheetahs, Vayu and Agni, were released from boma 7 (enclosure) for mating, but it appears that the male cheetahs turned violent during the process which is a normal thing, the official added.
In such a scenario, it is difficult for the monitoring team to interfere while the female cheetah died. Cheetahs ‘Sasha’ and ‘Uday’, who were shifted to KNP from Namibia and South Africa in separate batches in September 2022 and later, died on March 27 and April 23, respectively, officials had said.
SC takes exception to public statements made about pending issue of scrapping of 4% Muslim quota in Karnataka
The Supreme Court on May 9 said sub judice cases should not be “politicised” after a petitioner alleged on Tuesday that Home Minister Amit Shah has made public statements about the scrapping of the 4% quota for Muslims in Karnataka ahead of the Assembly elections.
“Why should such statements be made by anyone when the matter is sub judice?” a Bench of Justices K. M. Joseph, B. V. Nagarathna and Ahsanuddin Amanullah asked.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, for petitioner Ghulam Rasool, said the statements are being made by none other than the Home Minister.
“They are proudly saying that they have withdrawn [the quota]…” Dave said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta objected vehemently to the submission, saying the Court had not been “told about the context, content or anything”.
Shah had said there was no provision for reservation on the basis of religion in the Constitution, and the 4% quota was unconstitutional. This had led the ruling BJP government in the State to scrap the reservation.
The Solicitor General said a person was fully justified to say he was principally against religion-based reservation. Mehta said he was not for bringing politics into the Court.
“We just want discipline to be maintained…when a matter is pending before the Court…” Justice Nagarathna remarked. Justice Joseph recounted that in 1971 the West Bengal Chief Minister was held for contempt for holding a press conference defending a rationing order that was the subject matter of a challenge before the Court.
The Bench said there was a marked difference between a counsel arguing in Court and a person making a statement of a case sub judice in a public space. The State brought up the right to free speech, but the Court said a reservation issue pending in Court ought not to be politicised.
But Mehta said it was the petitioner side who was politicising the issue in Court.
The Bench adjourned the case after Mehta assured that appointments or admissions would not be made in the State on the basis of the State Government order of March 27, which divided the 4% quota equally between the Vokkaliga and Lingayat castes, for the time being when the case was pending in the Supreme Court.
In a hearing on April 13, Justice Joseph had prima facie remarked that the State’s decision to scrap the quota for Muslims was based on “absolutely fallacious assumptions”. Justice Joseph had pointed out that Muslims, for a very long period, were treated as a ‘more backward’ community.
“They were sandwiched somewhere between the ‘most backward’ and ‘backward’ communities. Suddenly you have taken reservation benefits away from them… I have to speak my mind here, so that you can respond… What strikes me as a student of law is that the order is based on absolutely fallacious assumptions,” Justice Joseph had orally observed.
Dave had then argued that the State removed Muslims from the backward class list and included them under the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) category without any empirical data collected or study done to support the move. The March 27 government order to scrap the Muslim quota in the State was based on an “interim” report from the Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission.
He had submitted that the inclusion of Muslim community in the EWS list illegally implied that the community was not socially and educationally backward. “After 50 years, they removed the reservation for Muslims overnight and gave it to somebody else. This was done just two days before the State Assembly elections were announced. You want to favour Vokkaligas and Lingayats, do that. But don’t take away reservations given to Muslims... They don’t want to displease others, but we are dispensable,” Dave had submitted.
In brief:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on May 9 slammed restrictions on grain exports from his war-torn country that were imposed by neighbouring EU nations, saying the measures are a boon to Russia. “All restrictions on our exports are completely unacceptable right now. They only reinforce the abilities of the aggressor,” Zelenskyy said during a press conference in Kyiv with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
Published - May 09, 2023 09:22 pm IST
