LAHORE: A Lahore court ordered the police battalion to halt their operation to arrest Imran Khan on Wednesday till 10 am tomorrow. The order came after a 16 hours tussle between the PTI chief supporter and police forces outside his house in Lahore.
The Lahore High Court intervened even as Pakistan Rangers and police personnel closed in on ousted prime minister Imran Khan’s residence to arrest him in a corruption case on Wednesday. However, after the high court order, they started retreating, prompting cheers and celebrations among his supporters.
Police and other security officials were seen leaving Zaman Park, prompting celebrations among Khan’s supporters who cheered “chasing the Rangers away”.
Khan was seen meeting his party workers with a gas mask on as the rangers had landed tear gas in the corridor of his residence. In a tweet, the party said that more workers were reaching Zaman Park and vowed not to let the “impure intentions” of the coalition government succeed.
Television footages showed water cannons and rounds of tera gas being used to disperse the angry crowd that pushed the police party away Zaman Park.
In a video address to the nation from his residence, Khan said on Wednesday that he has asked the military establishment to end this ‘tamasha’ (drama)”. The Pakistani TV channels did not broadcast Khan’s speech. His party said the media blackout the speech’s coverage on the order from the “top”.
“My house has been under heavy attack since yesterday afternoon. The latest attack by Rangers pitted the largest political party against the army. This is what PDM and the enemies of Pakistan want. No lessons learnt from the East Pakistan tragedy,” he said, referring to the creation of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) in 1971.
Khan has aasured to appear before the court on March 18th.