Members of Australia's Pakistani community have been protesting in cities across the country in support of former prime minister Imran Khan, whose arrest sparked nationwide violence in Pakistan.
Melbourne-based Ayesha Bux told the ABC she and her family members were standing up for "justice".
"I have not been a political person, but what has happened in Pakistan is an injustice," Ms Bux said.
"The arrest of Imran Khan, the oppression of [political party] PTI workers and the blockage of media, I think it all is very unfair," she added.
Protesters chanted "this terrorism has a uniform behind it" in a reference to Pakistan's military.
The military has been targeted due to Mr Khan's accusations that it conspired to oust him from power and also because he says a senior officer was behind a plot to kill him.
The military, which has intervened in politics numerous times over the country's 76-year history, denies Mr Khan's claims and has warned him against making "baseless allegations".
Kiran Wali, a Pakistani community member who helped organise the Melbourne protest, said the international community needed to play its role in ensuring long-due elections were not further delayed in Pakistan.
"We have been pushing for timely elections since the removal of Imran Khan from office, even before his arrest," she said.
Land deal behind arrest
Mr Khan, Pakistan's most popular political leader according to polls, was arrested at Islamabad High Court on Tuesday, prompting supporters to take to the streets and storm military buildings.
He was then released on Thursday when the Supreme Court ruled his arrest was illegal.
Mr Khan is accused of using state funds to compensate a real estate tycoon, Malik Riaz, for land that would be used to build a new university called Al-Qadir. He has denied any wrongdoing.
He was also indicted by a Pakistani court in an unrelated case on Wednesday for unlawfully selling state gifts during his premiership between 2018 and 2022.
The corruption cases against Mr Khan are two of more than 100 cases registered against him since his ouster in April 2022.
Pakistan's government called in the army during the week to help end the unrest, warning protesters against any further attacks on state installations.
In a televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the unrest by Mr Khan's supporters "damaged sensitive public and private property", forcing him to deploy the military in the capital of Islamabad, the most populous province of Punjab and in volatile regions of the north-west bordering Afghanistan.
"Such scenes were never seen by the people of Pakistan," Mr Sharif said, following a cabinet meeting.
Protesters had stormed military buildings, ransacked the residence of a top army general in the eastern city of Lahore, and set ablaze state buildings and assets in other places
In rare scenes, the headquarters of Pakistan's army was even attacked by a mob in the garrison city Rawalpindi.
Tensions remained high in the nuclear-armed nation on Thursday with paramilitary troops and police on the streets in major cities.
Mobile data services were still suspended and schools and offices were closed in two of Pakistan's four provinces.
Fears of mutiny within military
Islamabad-based defence and strategic affairs analyst Rana Muhammad Javed Iqbal told the ABC the situation could trigger a "change in the chain of command" within the military.
"There is widespread support for Imran Khan within the military as well … there is a possibility of the breakdown in the military chain of command," he said.
He said it was possible the country's top military general might succumb to the pressure and give way to a successor.
"As a nuclear-armed nation, Pakistan cannot afford any mutiny within the military," he added.
At least five people have died in the recent violence that has added to instability in the South Asian country of 220 million people as it grapples with a severe economic crisis and a delay to an International Monetary Fund bailout since November.
ABC/wires
