Pakistani Police Arrest Lawmakers Allied With Former Prime Minister Imran Khan

Pakistani police arrested at least 10 lawmakers belonging to the imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political party, in an hourslong raid on the Parliament building in Islamabad that began Monday night, officials said.

The police sweep was the first time in recent memory that Pakistani lawmakers have been arrested while at the Parliament and it intensified the political turmoil gripping the country over the past nearly three years. That crisis has pit Pakistan’s powerful military — long seen as an invisible hand guiding the country’s politics — against the still-strong political force of Mr. Khan and his die-hard supporters.

The overnight police raid began around 8:30 p.m. on Monday night, when dozens of police officers entered the building in the capital shortly after the end of a legislative session. As word spread of the raid, some lawmakers barricaded themselves inside their offices, while others were pulled from their cars by police officers as they tried to leave the premises, according to videos and witnesses.

The lights in the building went out late Monday night, going back on only after the police sweep ended around 2 a.m. on Tuesday.

The party members were arrested on charges related to antiterrorism laws, according to court documents and leaders of Mr. Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, or P.T.I. At least one lawmaker who had been arrested was released from custody late on Tuesday, court documents show.

The police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The raid seemed to signal the lengths to which the security establishment is willing to go to squash Mr. Khan’s party, analysts said, even into the halls of Parliament.

“Whatever happened in the Parliament, definitely a stand will have to be taken,” Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the speaker of the National Assembly, said during a fraught session on Tuesday.

In that session, some cabinet members of the ruling party, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, or P.M.L.N., defended the arrests, describing them as a consequence of threats that P.T.I. leaders had made at a rally on Sunday to secure Mr. Khan’s release from prison within two weeks — by force if necessary.

“It was a reaction to what happened at the rally,” said Khawaja Muhammad Asif, the defense minister and a member of P.M.L.N.

But Mr. Khan’s party members condemned them as a threat to the country’s fragile democracy. “This is an attack on democracy and Pakistan’s constitution,” said Ali Muhammad Khan, a lawmaker from P.T.I.

The current political crisis began in 2022, when Mr. Khan, a former international cricket star-turned-populist politician, fell out with the generals and was ousted as prime minister in a vote of no-confidence. Since then, he has made a stunning political comeback and rallied thousands across the country with his message criticizing the military’s role in politics.

Earlier this year, Mr. Khan’s party won the most seats in a general election but fell short of the majority needed to form a government. His rivals, led by the party of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, cobbled together a coalition government instead. Mr. Khan was arrested last year and remains in prison on what he calls politically motivated charges.In recent months, the generals have slowly ramped up their crackdown on Mr. Khan’s party.

Last month, the military arrested a powerful former spy chief and ally of Mr. Khan — the first time in Pakistan’s history that a current or former chief of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence, or I.S.I., has faced court-martial proceedings. Human rights groups and analysts have accused the government of secretly testing a firewall-like system to better surveil and control the country’s internet, including social media sites where Mr. Khan’s supporters are particularly active.

And recently, Mr. Khan’s supporters have expressed concerns that the generals may be preparing to try Mr. Khan in a military court on charges that he instructed his supporters to attack military installations during a major protest last year.

While some hoped that his party could engage in talks with the military to secure Mr. Khan’s release, most now believe that doing so is off the table.

“It seems that P.T.I. sees no path to securing Imran Khan’s release from prison through a negotiated settlement with the military and has instead chosen to use this moment to apply pressure on the establishment and initiate a political campaign,” said Zaigham Khan, a political analyst in Islamabad.

The most provocative speech at the rally on Sunday was delivered by Ali Amin Gandapur, an ally of Mr. Khan and chief minister of the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province. Mr. Gandapur, known for his brash style of politics, threatened to stage a mass protest in Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province, where the local government is led by P.T.I.’s main rival party, the P.M.L.N.

“Put your house in order,” Mr. Gandapur said in comments directed at the military. “I am not scared of the army uniform,” he added, in what was understood to be a warning against any move to try Mr. Khan in military court.

Mr. Gandapur also accused journalists who were not supportive of Mr. Khan’s party of being sellouts.

Mr. Gandapur’s speech was widely condemned, even by members of his own party, as inflammatory and employing derogatory language.

Mr. Khan, the analyst, said the speech made the crisis “appear irreconcilable for the time being, signaling tough times ahead for P.T.I.” as well as for the coalition government and the military, both of which are grappling with a lack of public support and credibility.

Some also called the criticism from P.T.I. hypocritical, pointing to an episode in 2022, during Mr. Khan’s tenure, when three opposition lawmakers were arrested in their lodges across from the Parliament building.

Mr. Sadiq, the speaker of the National Assembly, ordered a complete investigation into the arrests and requested a report on the incident from the Inspector General of Islamabad, his office said in a statement.

The ruling party, which is widely considered little more than a front for the military, stood alone in defending the police actions. On Tuesday, even its coalition partners in government condemned the arrests, saying they crossed a line and signaled troubling times to come.

“What will happen tomorrow?” said Syed Naveed Qamar, a member of the Pakistan Peoples Party. “Will they come for you, on the floor of the Parliament?”

source : newyork times