Pakistan Supreme Court orders Ex-PM Khan’s Immediate Release

Pakistan’s Supreme Court deemed former PM Imran khan’s arrest illegal and ordered his immediate release. Ex-Prime Minister Khan’s arrest has sparked deadly protests across the country that determined the government to deploy the military to restore order.

Khan was arrested on charges of corruption on May 9th and placed in custody for eight days by a judge for his implication in a corruption scandal which centres on the granting of land through the trust owned by Khan and his wife.
The elections commission in October disqualified Khan from holding public office for five years after a court established his guilt in a case of state gifts being unlawfully sold while he was prime minister between 2018-22. The former prime minister rejected all charges as politically motivated.

On May 11, a three-judge bench at the Supreme Court heard Khan’s petition to be freed and ruled that his arrest had been illegal, ordering his immediate release, but advised the former prime minister to cooperate with the anticorruption agency investigating charges against him.

The court asked Khan to condemn the violence triggered by his arrest but the former PM denied any knowledge of the protests while he was arrested. According to press agencies, at least 7 people died during protests in several regions of Pakistan while the government called for questioning leaders of Khan’s party and arrested hundreds of its supporters in regions where violent protests ensued.

Khan has been at odds with Pakistan’s powerful military establishment ever since he was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April last year. He has rejected the multiple corruption cases opened against him as politically motivated.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said in a televised speech on May 10 that he was forced to deploy the army in Islamabad, in Khan’s home region of Punjab, and in the northwest after Khan’s supporters “damaged sensitive public and private property.”

Sharif said “such scenes” had never taken place in Pakistan before, calling the violence “unforgivable” and warning that perpetrators will be given exemplary punishment after protesters burned the building of Radio Pakistan in Peshawar, ransacked the offices of the Electoral Commission of Pakistan, attacked army offices in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, close to Islamabad and burned down the residence of a top general in Lahore.

The army warned in a statement that any further assaults on the military or law enforcement agencies, state installations, and properties “will be met with severe retaliation.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to all parties to refrain from violence and stressed the need to respect the right to peaceful assembly and urged Pakistani authorities to “respect due process and the rule of law in proceedings” against Khan.

Khan, who leads the opposition party, Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf, survived an assassination attempt in November 2022. He is a former cricket star turned Islamist politician and has been leading the opposition since his ouster, which he claimed was part of a plot by Sharif and the United States. Sharif an US deny any involvement.

GSPI