Police in Pakistan’s Punjab province have arrested 3,000 people, including women, after violent clashes between supporters of Imran Khan and security agencies. The clashes occurred after the former prime minister’s arrest earlier this week. The law and order situation in Punjab province was under control on Friday after Khan, the chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, was granted protective bail in a corruption case. The PTI chief was arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday in the Al-Qadir Trust case after the National Accountability Bureau issued an arrest warrant against him.
Inspector General Police, Punjab, Dr Usman Anwar, told reporters that 3,000 people were arrested across Punjab, majorly from the provincial capital Lahore, during the violent clashes since Tuesday. He said the miscreants torched and damaged over 80 vehicles of the law enforcement agencies besides damaging 14 state buildings/installations in the province. Over 150 police personnel were also injured, Anwar said, adding those arrested would be tried under terrorism charges.
As the law enforcement agencies put the death toll at 10, the opposition PTI party claimed that 40 of its workers were killed in the clashes. “At least 40 workers of the PTI have been killed and over 100 injured during the clashes across Pakistan,” PTI leader and former federal minister Murad Saaed said in a video message.
Police have also booked Khan and 1,500 of his party leaders and workers for torching the army commander’s house, in which two protesters were killed. Pakistan Army troops on Thursday held a flag march on the major arteries of Lahore to make their presence felt.
