Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has been charged under anti-terrorism legislation after he gave a fiery speech to supporters at the weekend in which he vowed to sue police officers and a female judge and alleged a close aide had been tortured after his arrest.
Khan will have to “face the law for threatening and hurling abuses”, tweeted the interior minister, Rana Sanaullah.
Hundreds of Khan’s supporters gathered outside his hilltop mansion in the capital, Islamabad, on Monday, vowing to prevent his arrest.
The protesters chanted slogans against the government of the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif – brother of the jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif – which took over after Khan was ousted in a confidence vote in April.
A court in Islamabad issued a so-called “protective bail” for Khan for the next three days, preventing police from arresting him over the charges until at least Thursday.
Tensions escalated sharply on Saturday when Pakistan’s media watchdog banned television channels from broadcasting live addresses by Khan after his rally in Islamabad.
A police report of the rally cited Khan’s comments that he “would not spare” Islamabad’s police chief and a female judge for the arrest of his aide. “The purpose of the speech was to spread terror amongst the police and the judiciary and prevent them from doing their duty,” police said in the report.
Under Pakistan’s legal system, police file what is known as a first information report about the charges against an accused to a magistrate judge, who allows the investigation to move forward. Typically, police then arrest and question the accused.
Separately, the Islamabad high court on Monday issued a contempt notice to Khan for threatening a judge in his speech on Saturday.
The use of anti-terrorism laws as the basis of cases against political leaders is not uncommon in Pakistan, where Khan’s government also used them against opponents and critics.
Fawad Chaudhry, a former information minister and a senior leader of Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI), warned of “political and administrative consequences” if Khan was arrested. Chaudhry denied claims that Khan had left his house to avoid arrest.
Another former minster, Ali Amin Gandapur, tweeted that “if Imran Khan is arrested ... we will take over Islamabad with people’s power.” Others shared footage of supporters from the scene.
At his latest rally on Sunday night he accused “neutrals” – a term he uses to allude to Pakistan’s powerful military – of being responsible for a crackdown on his party and workers.
“A plan has been made to place our party against the wall. I assure you, that the Sri Lankan situation is going to happen here,” Khan threatened, referencing the recent economic protests that toppled that island nation’s government. “Now we are following law and constitution. But when a political party strays from that path, the situation inside Pakistan, who will stop the public? There are 220 million people.”
PTI went to court on Monday to challenge the charges against Khan. Chaudhry told the Guardian from the court that he was waiting for the charges to be quashed.
Khan, the former superstar cricketer turned pious Islamist politician, was ousted in April when he lost a no-confidence vote in parliament following the loss of his parliamentary majority. In the week before his departure he violated the constitution in an attempt to stop the vote going ahead.
After leaving office Khan alleged without providing evidence that the military had participated in a US plot to unseat him. Washington, the Pakistani military and the government of Sharif have all denied this.
Khan has since been touring the country addressing huge rallies with complaints against the military, judiciary and media, and demanding fresh elections.
Nusrat Javed, a political analyst and journalist, said Khan’s speeches had invited the state to come after him.
“It is not only the civilian government who wants to arrest Khan,” he said. “His tirade against the military establishment and judiciary has pushed him to a place where he can be arrested soon.”
Javed played down fears of chaos if Khan was arrested. “We need to understand that Khan is the only face of his party and he is a charismatic leader and crowd puller,” he said. “Once he is arrested, I don’t think his party leadership can protest for more than three days.
“His party is in power in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces and they would not damage the state buildings there.”
Khan was elected as prime minister in 2018 as the “modern” face of Pakistan, who had the backing of the military and promised economic prosperity and an end to corruption.
But his time in office was blighted by economic crisis, including record inflation. He had also been seen to pander to militant Islamic groups, and during his time in office religious violence and public lynchings of those accused of blasphemy were on the rise.
Reuter contributed to this report
