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Police in Pakistan have arrested a senior chief of former prime minister Imran Khan’s celebration on costs of threatening the chief of the elections overseeing physique and different authorities officers.
The arrest on Wednesday of Fawad Chaudhry, an outspoken critic of the federal government, is a significant setback for his celebration, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, through which he serves as vice chairman. The celebration shortly condemned the arrest and demanded his launch.
Mr Khan additionally denounced the arrest, claiming on Twitter that it left little doubt that Pakistan has grow to be a spot “devoid of rule of legislation”.
He urged followers to “arise for our basic rights” to stop the nation from drifting in direction of “a degree of no return”.
The arrest came about throughout a pre-dawn raid at Mr Chaudhry’s home in Lahore, the capital of japanese Punjab province, his household stated.
Shireen Mazari, a spokesperson for Khan’s celebration, stated Mr Chaudhry was taken in handcuffs straight to courtroom by the police in Lahore.
Mr Chaudhry’s spouse, Hiba Fawad, instructed reporters that safety forces have been tough together with her husband, pushed him right into a automobile and whisked him away.
“There’s a process to comply with if you wish to arrest somebody,” she stated.
“It can not occur that 10 or 12 folks enter a home, detain somebody, throw him right into a automobile and take him away with out telling the household the place they’re taking him.”
Footage launched later by the celebration confirmed Mr Chaudhry’s supporters gathered on the courtroom and throwing rose petals at him as police led him in direction of a courtroom.
Angered over his arrest, a whole bunch of Mr Chaudhry’s supporters blocked a key freeway in Jehlum, his house metropolis in Punjab province, to demand his launch.
In a press release, Islamabad police stated Mr Chaudhry was arrested on a grievance from the Election Fee of Pakistan on costs of threatening the pinnacle of the elections overseeing physique, Sikandar Sultan Raja, and different officers.
The threats have been meant to stop them from performing their duties and incite folks to violence towards them, police stated.
On Tuesday, Chaudhry criticized the elections overseeing physique for appointing a veteran journalist, Mohsin Naqvi, as caretaker chief minister in Punjab.
Mr Khan’s celebration and its allies have been in energy in Punjab and held majority seats within the provincial meeting however dissolved the home earlier this month, a transfer that apparently sought to strain the federal government in Islamabad.
-AP
