Pakistan arrests ex-PM Khan’s party leaders after deploying army to quell protests
- Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who served as foreign minister in Imran Khan’s cabinet during his four year premiership, was arrested overnight
- Pakistan’s government called in the army to help end violent protests after former premier Imran Khan was arrested and put under custody of the anti-corruption agency
Pakistani authorities arrested a senior leader of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party on Thursday as the government deployed the army to help end deadly unrest sparked by Khan’s arrest three days ago.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who served as foreign minister in Imran Khan’s cabinet during his four year premiership, was arrested overnight, a statement on his Twitter profile said.
Two other senior leader of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry, were also arrested on Wednesday.
The violence sparked by Khan’s arrest on Tuesday by the country’s anti-corruption agency has aggravated instability in the country of 220 million people as it grapples with a severe economic crisis and a delay to an International Monetary Fund bailout since November.
Protesters have stormed military buildings and ransacked the residence of a top army general in the eastern city of Lahore.
Other state buildings and assets have been attacked and set ablaze by protesters. At least five people have died in the violence.
At least seven people were killed in the past two days and scores more injured in protests and clashes with security forces.
