Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has ordered authorities to identify and arrest all those involved in violent acts after former prime minister Imran Khan's arrest this week sparked deadly unrest.
Mr Shahbaz said in a Tweet on Saturday that he had given authorities 72 hours to arrest those connected to acts of arson seen in recent days.
Mr Shabaz said "all available resources" would be made available to law enforcement as part of the operation, and that those arrested would be tried by anti-terrorism courts.
"Bringing these people to justice is a test case for the government," he said.
"Their cases will be tried by the anti-terrorism courts."
It comes after a turbulent week in Pakistani politics, with the detention and later release of former prime minister Iman Khan.
Mr Khan departed the court premises late on Friday night and headed towards his hometown Lahore amidst high security after a court granted him bail.
His arrest in a land fraud case on Tuesday, which the Supreme Court ruled "invalid and unlawful" on Thursday, sparked violent protests by his supporters.
They stormed military establishments, set ablaze a state broadcaster building, smashed buses, ransacked a top army official's house and attacked other assets, resulting in the army being deployed in multiple cities.
More than 2,800 arrests were made, while 152 police officers were injured, 74 police vehicles vandalised and set on fire, and 22 government buildings, including police stations and offices, were damaged, said the police of Pakistan's most populous province, Punjab.
At least eight people were killed in the violence, a spasm of unrest in a country that is facing economic crisis with record inflation, anaemic growth and delayed IMF funding.
Following Mr Sharif's announcement, Punjab's government released pictures of unidentified protesters involved in an attack on a military official's residence on Wednesday.
Mr Khan, who was expected to address his followers virtually later on Saturday, on Friday welcomed the court's bail order and said the judiciary was Pakistan's only protection against the "law of the jungle".
"I must say I expected this from our judiciary, because the only hope now left – the only thin line between a banana republic and a democracy — is the judiciary," he told journalists inside the court premises.
Mr Khan, 70, is a cricket star-turned-politician who was ousted as prime minister in April 2022 in a parliamentary no-confidence vote and who is Pakistan's most popular leader according to opinion polls.
Many cities in Pakistan saw violent protests following his arrest by the anti-graft agency. Mr Khan denies any wrongdoing.
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter were inaccessible in Pakistan on Saturday after having been restored late on Friday, Reuters journalists said.
The Ministry of Interior had instructed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to suspend mobile broadband services across the country and blocked access to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter on Tuesday night
The services were available again on Friday night but on Saturday were again inaccessible, the journalists said.
Reuters/ABC
