U.N. Secretary General António Guterres on Wednesday urged all parties to refrain from violence with regards to protests that have broken out across Pakistan following the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in a case of alleged corruption.
In a statement, the spokesperson for the U.N. chief said Guterres had taken notice of the ongoing protests in Pakistan. “He stresses the need to respect the right to peaceful assembly,” it said, adding that he also urged authorities to respect due process and the rule of law in proceedings brought against Khan.
The PTI chief was arrested on Tuesday in the Al-Qadir Trust case, pertaining to the alleged return of funds seized from real estate tycoon Malik Riaz by the U.K.’s National Crime Agency and transferred to the state of Pakistan. The funds, it is alleged, were returned to Riaz in exchange for him providing land for the Al-Qadir University, which had listed Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, and her friend Farah Khan as its trustees.
Following the arrest, there was a surge in agitation from the PTI, with the party’s supporters damaging and ransacking various military installations and buildings. The party’s workers have also set fire to several ambulances and public buses, while rioters in Peshawar set fire to an animal market and the Radio Pakistan building. Thus far, at least five deaths have been reported nationwide, primarily in Peshawar, with dozens more reported injured in clashes between law enforcers and PTI workers.
In a bid to dampen the chaos, the provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and authorities in the federal capital, have requisitioned the deployment of Army troops in the aid of civil power. On Wednesday night, the military’s spokesman issued a statement warning of “severe retaliation” if such violence continued, adding that it had thus far showed “restraint” against the “evil designs” of “some elements” within the PTI’s leadership.