Nine killed, over 290 injured in Pakistan protests

The death toll in the protests in Pakistan following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan has risen to nine, with over 290 injured.

Local police said that on the night of May 10 to 11, nearly 1,600 supporters of Khan were arrested on charges of damaging public property and attacking military installations, bringing the total of those detained to 2,300 since May 9, according to NBC News.

The arrests took place mainly in eastern Punjab province, Islamabad and northwestern Pakistan, but also elsewhere in the country.

The Supreme Court was to hear a petition from Khan’s lawyer Salman Safdar on May 11, seeking his release and arguing that the former premier was illegally detained.
Moreover, on May 11, police filed new terrorism charges against Khan and top leaders from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party on charges of inciting mobs to violence.

They said the mobs attacked military installations, damaged public property, burned down dozens of police vehicles, attacked police officers and disrupted life by blocking key roads and highways.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari urged Khan’s followers to end the violence but stressed that peaceful protests are their right: “What has happened, has happened. Don’t make things more difficult for yourself,” he said.

Following the violence, the government has shut down schools, colleges and universities in the eastern Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, where Khan has a massive grassroot following and from where most of the violence was reported after his arrest. The government also suspended internet service in various parts of the country.

The government blames Khan and senior leaders from his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party for inciting people to violence, which is ongoing in Punjab and in the northwest.

The military headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi was attacked and Khan’s supporters stormed security posts in the northwest, torching the security Chakdara fort on the border with Afghanistan.

As reported, demonstrators ransacked and then burned down the residence of the top regional commander Lt-Gen Salman Fayyaz Ghani in Lahore on May 9 night.

Officials say Khan’s supporters particularly targeted military installations because he has been blaming the military for his 2022 ouster, while also claiming it was a conspiracy by Washington and Sharif’s government - charges that both the United States and Khan’s successor have denied.

The military issued a harsh statement, vowing to respond to attacks by demonstrators with full force. It said the attacks on its installations were launched in an orchestrated manner, and the violence was a “black chapter” in the country’s history.

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.