ISLAMABAD, Sept 11 (Askume) – Several lawmakers and party leaders of jailed former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan were arrested following a rally calling for his release and will face charges, a police charge sheet seen by Askume showed on Wednesday.
He was arrested after Sunday’s rally turned violent and is currently in police custody.
Former cricket star Khan , 71,His imprisonment for more than a year has sparked the worst political unrest in decades in the country of 241 million people.
The chargesheet shows that Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of Khan’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, whose party leads the province, is also among those charged.
An Islamabad police spokesman said the charges included violating law and order and assaulting law enforcement personnel. He did not disclose or elaborate on the number of those detained.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said about a dozen of its lawmakers were detained in Islamabad. The party said other lawmakers took refuge in parliament to escape police, who entered the building and arrested some of its members.
The party had announced a nationwide protest on Friday against this action.
PTI-backed candidates won the most seats in a general election in February but fell short of the majority needed to form a government. Khan’s rivals formed a coalition led by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
The PTI said the election was rigged to remove Khan from power – a charge denied by Pakistan’s Election Commission.
