Islamabad, Oct 5 (EFE).- The head of the provincial Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, Ali Amin Gandapur, one of imprisoned former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan’s main allies, has been detained at his home in Islamabad, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said Saturday.
The head of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had traveled to the capital to the mass protests that began on Friday in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and other cities in northern Pakistan to demand Khan’s release. The former PM has been in prison since August 2023.
“The Rangers (a Pakistani semi-military force) have forcibly entered the house of the head of the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and launched an aggressive attack in an attempt to arrest the head of the government (of the northern province),” the PTI said on X.
Khan’s party said the “deeply shameful” act was “a blatant abuse of power (…) that raises serious concerns about the state of lawlessness in Pakistan.”
The post was accompanied by images of agents with shields, helmets and batons in front of Amin Gandapur’s Islamabad residence.
“Rangers and forces stormed and broke down the door of the chief minister’s bedroom. Since then he has been detained there, inside the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa house,” PTI spokesman Zulfikar Bukhari said in a statement.
Later, another influential figure in the PTI, Muhammad Ali Saif, said Gandapur had not been “formally arrested” and that he was released on bail until next October 25.
The PTI called for protests Friday in the capital and several cities near it that eventually resulted in the arrest of about 30 protesters and authorities using tear gas to disperse Khan’s ers.
The demonstrations are scheduled to continue Saturday in Lahore, capital of Pakistan’s eastern Punjab and the country’s second most populous city.
Metal containers have been installed around Lahore to block access to the city, and emergency measures preventing more than four people gathering remain in force in several areas of the country.
In Islamabad, where the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit will take place on October 15-16 – which Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is expected to attend – the Interior Ministry has deployed army troops to ensure security until October 17, local media reported.
Khan’s PTI has called for other marches in recent weeks to protest the arrest of its leader, who has been in prison since August last year on hundreds of charges.
Although the former prime minister’s party won the largest number of seats in the general elections in February, it was unable to form a government due to a series of judicial and political obstacles.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), with the of other parties then appointed Shehbaz Sharif as the new prime minister. EFE
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