Imran Khan and the police have been locked in a tense standoff in Lahore, with Pakistan’s former prime minister holed up in his residence claiming he was about to be arrested and officers barricading the surrounding roads and accusing him of harbouring “terrorists”.
Since Khan was released from police custody on Friday, after his arrest in a corruption case was declared illegal, he has repeatedly expressed his fear of being re-arrested and has only left his residence once, to attend court with his wife on Monday.
On Thursday, Khan had been summoned to appear before the National Accountability Bureau, the corruption agency behind his arrest, but he sent in a written response instead.
Khan has spent the week in his home broadcasting critical speeches and sending an increasing number of agitated tweets against senior army figures and the ruling coalition government.
As Khan prepared to broadcast an address to his followers on YouTube from his residence on Wednesday night, a heavy contingent of Punjabi police gathered around his home and Khan alleged he was about to be arrested.
Local Punjabi officials, citing intelligence reports, had claimed that Khan was protecting “30 to 40 terrorists” who had been involved in the violent protests that erupted last week and was hiding them in his home.
They gave Khan 24 hours to give up the alleged terrorists or a raid would be carried out. But as of Thursday afternoon, no police had entered his home and Punjabi government officials said there was no plan to carry out a raid at the moment, although police barricades remained on the roads around his residence.
In his address, Khan denied the presence of any “terrorists” in his home and told the police to come with a search warrant to check for themselves.
He continued to speak out against the actions taken against members of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, alleging that more than 7,000 members had been arrested in recent days in a “reign of terror” against his party by the state. Several senior PTI members were immediately re-arrested on Wednesday after being granted bail and were taken to unknown locations by police.
“I am afraid today that Pakistan is on the route to destruction,” he said in his address.
Khan also commented on his increasingly critical rhetoric against Pakistan’s military establishment. “I criticise my army the same way I criticise my children, which is for reform,” said Khan.
The chief of the armed forces, Gen Asim Munir, who has been the focus of some of Khan’s harshest criticism, made a thinly veiled attack on Khan in response, expressing “concern over externally sponsored and internally facilitated, orchestrated propaganda warfare, unleashed against the army leadership”.
