ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani police have arrested a prominent political figure in an overnight raid on his home near Islamabad days after he accused the country’s former president of plotting to kill former Prime Minister Imran Khan, authorities said Thursday.
The government’s latest move is likely to deepen political turmoil at a time when the government is facing one of its worst economic crises and is in talks to convince the International Monetary Fund to revive a $6 billion bailout.
Police are expected to bring Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who served as interior minister in Khan’s government, before a judge to get permission to question him on any evidence to support his accusation against former president Asif Ali Zardari.
Islamabad police confirmed the arrest and said Ahmed, the chairman of his small party, the Muslim Awami League, was in custody. Ahmed is a staunch critic of the government of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
Ahmed’s nephew, Rashid Shafiq, told reporters that dozens of policemen broke into his uncle’s house on the outskirts of Islamabad before dawn and arrested him, although Ahmed had already obtained a protective bond.
Police say Ahmed’s arrest followed a complaint by Inayat-ur Rehman, a senior politician in Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party. Rehman told police that Ahmed was inciting people to violence by filing a serious charge against Zardari.
Khan accused Zardari of conspiring to kill him by hiring an assassin from an unidentified military group. Zardari denies this and has said that he will sue Khan.
Ahmed’s arrest comes days after Lahore police detained a senior leader of Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf Party, Fawad Chaudhry, on charges of threatening the head of the electoral board and other officials.
Chaudhry was released on bail by court order the previous day.
Shortly after Ahmed’s arrest, Khan took to Twitter to denounce his arrest.
Footage later released by Ahmed’s supporters showed police taking Ahmed to a hospital for a medical examination, as officers claimed the man was drunk when he was arrested. Speaking to reporters at an Islamabad hospital, Ahmed denied the charge.
Ahmed’s arrest was a setback for Khan, who retains a strong grassroots following after he was ousted in a vote of no confidence in Parliament last April. He now he leads the opposition.
Meanwhile, the police also arrested a TV presenter, Imran Riaz Khan, in Lahore. It was not clear on what charges he was detained. Riaz Khan is not related to the former prime minister, but he is one of his staunchest supporters in the electronic media. Months ago, the police had said they were seeking his arrest for hate speech against the country’s institutions.
Khan, a former cricket star turned Islamist politician, was injured in a shooting attack while leading a demonstration in Islamabad last November. One of Khan’s supporters was killed and several others wounded in the firefight. Since then, Khan has been leading an anti-government campaign from her home in Lahore, the capital of the eastern Punjab province. She wants the government to agree to an early vote. The government has rejected that demand, saying the elections will be held on time later this year.
