Imran Khan arrest: Did he see it coming? Anti-army rants in past days may have led to Pak Rangers move

Dramatic scenes unfolded outside Islamabad High Court on Tuesday when Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan reached there for a hearing for one of the dozens of cases pending since he was ousted from office last year.

Personnel from the country’s paramilitary forces—the Pakistan Rangers—entered the premises and took him into custody after allegedly beating lawyers and Khan's security staff. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief had traveled from Lahore to attend a hearing in a corruption case at the court.

Videos going viral on social media showed chaotic scenes outside the court as hundreds of PTI supporters clashed with security officers, who ragged Khan into their vehicle and drove him down to an undisclosed location.

Islamabad police in a statement quoting Inspector General (IG) Akbar Nasir Khan as saying that Khan had been arrested in relation to the case which alleges that the PTI chief and his wife obtained billions of rupees from a real estate firm for legalising Rs50 billion.

The statement further said that the Rangers were acting on the orders of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Lt Gen (retd) Nazir Ahmad Butt who issued an arrest warrant against Khan on May 1.

Khan was taken into custody under Section 9A of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999.

However, what has alarmed many is that his arrest came a day after the country’s all-powerful Army reprimanded Khan for leveling “irresponsible and baseless allegations” against a senior military officer, who is currently serving in the armed forces, and threatened to take legal action.

Pak Army’s warning a day before

Ever since Khan was ousted from power last year following a no-confidence motion in Parliament, he has been blaming the Pakistan Army, despite previously enjoying a close relationship with the country’s most powerful establishment.

On many occasions, Khan had lambasted the previous army chief Gen (Retrd) Qamar Javed Bajwa and accused him of interfering with the government’s affairs.

But the tiff reached its crescendo on Monday when the Army didn’t take Khan’s comments lightly when he accused a senior military officer of plotting his assassination.

Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan arrested outside Islamabad High Court over Qadir Trust case 

“[The] chairman PTI has leveled highly irresponsible and baseless allegations against a serving senior military officer without any evidence,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in a statement, as Khan continues his tirade against the establishment.

“These fabricated and malicious allegations are extremely unfortunate, deplorable, and unacceptable,” the top military spokesperson said.

The ISPR DG added that politicians should refrain from making baseless allegations and warned that if such a trend were to continue, the army had the right to take legal action.

“We ask the political leader concerned to make recourse to legal avenues and stop making false allegations. The institution reserves the right to take legal course of action against patently false and malafide statements and propaganda.”

Khan’s allegations

In a video statement on Tuesday, Khan accused the country's intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Maj-Gen. Naseer of plotting his assassination.

"I can prove in (an)investigation that this man twice tried to kill me," Khan claimed and questioned Sharif in a series of tweets – are military officers above the law?

Khan has survived two assassination attempts. He was shot three times in the left leg, one of his supporters was killed and over a dozen others, including two lawmakers, were injured in the attack.

Following the country's top court's order to register the case, police registered the First Information Report (FIR) 96 hours after the attack.

Local police only named Naveed Ahmed as the main suspect, who was arrested shortly after the shooting and confessed to the attack in a video.

However, Khan was adamant about including Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and top ISI officer Major-General Faisal Naseer names to be included in the case.

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