Imran’s arrest illegal: Pak top court

ISLAMABAD, May 11 (Agencies): Pakistan’s top court on Thursday ruled that the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan was illegal, his lawyer said, two days after his detention on graft allegations ignited deadly protests and a tussle with the powerful military.
“The Supreme Court (SC) reversed all legal proceedings against Imran Khan ... he has been asked to present himself in the Islamabad High Court on Friday morning,” lawyer Babar Awan told reporters.
However, Khan was ordered to remain in the custody of the court under police protection for his own safety until his appearance at another court hearing on Friday.
“Your arrest was invalid so the whole process needs to be backtracked,” Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial told Khan at the hearing in the capital Islamabad.
“What we propose is that Islamabad police need to provide security, and he (Khan) will provide a list of his immediate family members and lawyers that should meet him at police lines headquarters,” said Bandial.
He added that the headquarters, where Khan was taken into custody following his arrest, should instead be treated as a “residence”.
Bandial denied Khan’s request to return to his farm house on the outskirts of Islamabad.
“The court has ordered that he will remain in the custody of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and that he can meet and consult his friends and lawyers during his stay there,” Khan’s lawyer, Babar Awan, told reporters.
Pakistan’s top judge had ordered police to bring Khan before him in response to a petition by his political party challenging his arrest on Tuesday on corruption charges.
On Thursday, Khan told the apex court he had been “treated like a terrorist”.
The Supreme Court had ruled that Khan was now under its (SC) custody and not the anti-graft agency. Khan would spend the night in the same police guest house as before but allowed to meet a limited number of friends and family.
Khan, 70, a cricket hero-turned-politician, has denied any wrongdoing.
Violence triggered by his arrest has aggravated instability in the country of 220 million people that is grappling with a severe economic crisis, eroding hopes of a quick resumption of an IMF bailout.
Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested and at least five killed after Khan’s supporters clashed with police, attacked military establishments and set other state buildings and assets ablaze, prompting the government to call out the army to help restore order.
Footage on Thursday showed Khan walking towards the Supreme Court dressed in a blue traditional shalwar kameez and wearing dark glasses. On Tuesday, he was picked up by heavily armed paramilitary police from Islamabad High Court premises, shoved into an armoured car and whisked away.