Pakistan Police arrive at Imran Khan’s Lahore residence to arrest him

Armoured police vehicles were seen arriving outside Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan’s Lahore residence on Tuesday, a day after an Islamabad court issued an arrest warrant for the country’s former prime minister in the Toshakhana case, according to local media.

A large police presence was seen outside Khan’s Zaman Park residence, and a senior Islamabad police official was quoted by the Dawn as saying that police planned to arrest the ex-prime minister. According to the daily’s correspondent, Mall Road was closed and a large crowd of PTI employees had gathered outside Zaman Park. Police approached the house slowly, trailed by an armoured vehicle dispersing PTI supporters with water cannons and tear gas. Stones were also thrown at the police officers by supporters.

PTI’s official Twitter account also called on supporters and workers to gather outside Zaman Park and to remain peaceful.

Islamabad Deputy Inspector General (DIG) (Operations) Shahzad Bukhari told reporters that officials had gathered outside Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence to take the PTI chief into custody as there were outstanding warrants for his arrest.

However, the police official declined to divulge the details of the case in which Islamabad police acted against Imran. “Of course, we know of the case but why should we discuss [such] details?”, the Pakistan daily reported.

While police declined to comment on the case in which they were acting against Imran, the development comes a day after an Islamabad district and sessions court issued arrest warrants for Imran after he repeatedly skipped hearings in the Toshakhana case. The court also ordered police to bring the former premier to court by March 18.