Pakistan court orders Imran Khan's release on bail, lawyer says

A Pakistani court ordered former Prime Minister Imran Khan's release on bail for two weeks, his lawyer said on May 12, following an arrest that sparked deadly unrest in the nuclear-armed nation.

The arrest, ruled "invalid and unlawful" by the Supreme Court a day earlier, fuelled instability in the nation of 220 million at a time of economic crisis, with record inflation, anaemic growth and delayed IMF funding, Reuters reports.

Khan arrived amid tight security at the court in Islamabad on May 12 as his supporters clashed with police elsewhere in the capital, broadcaster Geo TV reported.

"The court has given a two-week bail," Khan's lawyer, Faisal Chaudhry, told reporters.

Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested for violence since Khan's detention on May 9 and at least eight have been killed.