islamabad — The main cities of Pakistan were paralyzed this week by violent protests and riots caused by the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan, a national cricket legend turned leader of the political opposition, on corruption charges. Khan remains wildly popular in the country of 230 million despite being forced from office last year with a vote of no confidence in Pakistan’s parliament, and his arrest has angered his supporters.
The streets were calmer on Thursday after two days of violence that left at least eight people dead. But the nuclear-armed Asian nation remained on edge after most of the leaders of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) political party were detained. The nation’s powerful military and the current prime minister, who is backed by the armed forces, warned protesters on Wednesday that any further unrest would be dealt with harshly.
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Here’s what to know about the chaos, how Pakistan got here, and what may come next:
Who is Imran Khan?
Imran Khan, 70, was Pakistan’s prime minister for four years, until his removal in November 2022. He remains the leader of the main opposition party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), which stands for Movement for Justice. in English. .
Khan set up the match after retiring from a glittering career as captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. He led the team to win the Cricket World Cup in 1992, cementing his status as a national hero.
Disillusioned by the widespread corruption in Pakistani politics, he left the world of sports to set up his political party in 1998. A decade later, he was finally elected prime minister in 2018, backed by the country’s all-powerful military. But since then he has fallen spectacularly out of favor with army leaders, and was voted out of parliament last year.
Why was Imran Khan arrested?
Ironically, having been a fervent campaigner against corruption and bribery, Khan now faces a series of bribery and corruption cases.
Pakistan’s Home Minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters that Khan was arrested this week on the orders of the country’s main anti-corruption body, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He said Khan and his wife Bushra were suspected of receiving around $24.7 million worth of land from a developer who had been accused of money laundering by British authorities.
Sanaullah said UK authorities had returned $240 million to Pakistan in connection with the case, and that Khan was accused of returning that money to the developer rather than keeping it in the national treasury when he was prime minister.
Khan vehemently denies all wrongdoing and insists that all the charges against him, which include more than 100 separate cases filed against him since his ouster in 2022, are a ruse to prevent him from running in elections scheduled for November this year.
Khan is the seventh Pakistani prime minister in the country’s history to be arrested on corruption charges.
Khan brought to the Supreme Court of Pakistan
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday heard a petition from Khan’s lawyer, who demanded the politician’s release and called his arrest on Tuesday illegal. The court expressed its dissatisfaction with the way Khan was detained in another courtroom earlier in the week and ordered authorities to bring him before the high court within the hour.
Amid speculation that the High Court could order his release, National Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb told reporters in Islamabad that it would be “unfair” for the high court to intervene in such a way. Aurangzeb pointed to the violence instigated by Khan’s supporters this week, saying a release order would amount to a “license to kill everyone.”
What happens next and why is it important?
The confrontation between Khan’s supporters and the ruling coalition government is likely to escalate again ahead of his next court appearance on May 17, when his pretrial detention will be reviewed. If the judge decides to release Khan, he and the PTI may be emboldened and he is likely to return to his home in the city of Lahore, where his supporters could more effectively try to shield him from further arrest.
If the political turmoil around Khan continues, it could derail national elections scheduled for November.
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Pakistan’s army has ruled the country for most of its 75-year history, and most observers believe that army generals still pull the strings of its civilian government. Many Pakistanis fear that the army could move to overthrow the civilian government and impose martial law if the unrest continues and military installations come under attack again.
The impoverished country is plunged into a deep and deepening economic crisis, meanwhile, with food inflation above 36%. Many experts believe the government is about to default on its international debt, which could trigger a total economic collapse. The value of the Pakistani rupee hit a record low against the US dollar on Wednesday and continued its precipitous slide when trading began on interbank markets on Thursday.
The instability sparked by Khan’s arrest has added to a sense of impending disaster in the country, and the immediate question is how the military will respond to any new outbreak of the protests.
If the generals take a heavy-handed approach to the unprecedented challenge to their power, it could lead to broader internal conflict and a stability crisis in a nuclear-armed nation that has Strained relations with nuclear-armed neighbor India It would be cause for concern around the world.
CBS News’ Tucker Reals contributed to this report.