KABUL (BNA) A Pakistani official has accused former Prime Minister Imran Khan of sheltering aides and supporters wanted over attacks on the army following his arrest last week, and warned he had 24 hours to hand them over.
“We have intelligence that some 30 to 40 terrorists who were involved in attacking our army’s buildings and installations are hiding at Zaman Park,” Punjab province’s information minister Amir Mir told reporters on Wednesday, referring to the upmarket Lahore neighbourhood where Khan lives.
“We are giving an ultimatum that these terrorists should be turned over to the police, or else there will be action,” he told a news conference in the city.
Mir said Khan had 24 hours to surrender the suspects, and that a police operation would be launched if he did not comply.
In response, Taimur Khan Jhagra, a politician belonging to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told Al Jazeera the allegation that Khan is hiding riot suspects is “only going to increase the political temperature and it is very dangerous”.
“It is very rich of this caretaker government, which is in power only to hold elections, not even do their constitutional duty. They are leading a crackdown of a sort that has never before been seen in the country,” he said.
The Human Rights Commission said civilians arrested should be tried in civil courts and not military ones – reserved for troops suspected of working against the country’s national interests and violating military rules.
Bakhtar
