Pakistani riot police on Tuesday used water cannons to repel supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who were trying to prevent officers from arresting him at his home.
Imran Khan was overthrown in April 2022 in a no-confidence motion and has since faced a host of legal proceedings, as he remains wildly popular and hopes to return to power in parliamentary elections scheduled for October.
It is the second time this month that police have been dispatched from the capital Islamabad to Mr Khan's home in Lahore (east) to execute an arrest warrant, after he evaded several summonses to appear in court, citing security reasons.
“They think the Nation will fall asleep when Imran Khan goes to jail”
"
We are just here to execute the arrest warrant and arrest him
," Shehzad Nadeem, a senior Islamabad police official, told reporters outside Imran Khan's house.
The police were greeted at the home of the former head of government by at least 200 activists from his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, Pakistan Justice Movement), some of whom were brandishing sticks or throwing stones .
Police used water cannons to try to disperse the crowd and gain access to the building.
“
The police came here to put me in jail
,” Imran Khan said, in a video recorded inside the house and posted on Twitter.
“
They think the Nation will fall asleep when Imran Khan goes to jail
,” he added.
PTI deputy leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters that his party wanted to remain "
peaceful
".
Reluctant to surrender
Imran Khan, 70, has been summoned to court on charges that he failed to declare all diplomatic gifts received under his tenure and made money reselling some.
The first attempt to arrest the former cricket champion had failed because he was "
reluctant to surrender
", the police explained without further details.
Since his ousting, he has multiplied large rallies and political speeches, or even dissolved the two provincial assemblies controlled by his party, to try to obtain early elections, which the government refuses.
In November, he was shot and wounded during a political rally.
He attributed the assassination attempt to his successor, Shehbaz Sharif, and a senior army intelligence officer, without providing evidence for his allegations.
