Ex-Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi – a close aide of ex-prime minister Imran Khan – has been arrested in Islamabad, Pakistani broadcaster Geo TV reported Wednesday evening. News of Qureshi’s arrest came hours after Imran Khan – whose arrest Tuesday sparked violent clashes and riots in that country – was remanded to the custody of a Pakistani anti-corruption agency for eight days in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case. In initial reports Geo TV said Qureshi’s arrest was part of the anti-corruption agency’s ‘crack down’ on the leadership of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party led by Imran Khan, 70.
Apart from Qureshi, authorities also detained Asad Umar, the PTI’s secretary-general. Both are in a police station in the federal capital. Reports say cops are trying to arrest senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry as well. PTI leaders are being rounded up to maintain law and order, sources told the Pak broadcaster.
READ | Imran Khan sent to 8-day custody of Pakistan’s anti-corruption body
“The court has approved eight days of physical remand of Imran Khan,” a lawyer for the ex-PM told news agency AFP on the phone after an Islamabad court’s closed-door hearing.
Shortly before that another court indicted him in the ‘Toshakhana’ corruption case – a separate matter that sees him accused of illegally selling state gifts received during his time as PM (2018-22) and stored in a national treasury.
Set up in 1974, the Toshakhana is a department that stores precious gifts given to Pak heads of state, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials.
Khan was sent to the custody of the National Accountability Bureau in the Al-Qadir Trust case, in which he is accused of looting 50 billion Pakistani rupees.
READ | Pakistan’s Imran Khan arrested: What is Al-Qadir Trust case?
The NAB sought custody of Khan for 14 days and the court initially reserved its verdict, only to announce a U-turn and send the ex-PM to the agency.
Khan was arrested Tuesday and that was followed by massive protests across Pakistan, with his followers storming police stations and clashing with security forces. At least four deaths have been reported so far amid the fighting.
The Army has been deployed in Pakistan and nearly 1,000 people have been arrested in the province of Punjab, Pak’s most populous, police told news agency AFP. “Police teams arrested 945 law breakers and miscreants…” officials said, adding 130 officials had been injured in the violence.
With input from agencies
