Imran Khan’s pro-military government has yet to deal with the kidnapping of a senior police official.
Karachi:
A high-profile kidnapping of a police chief in Pakistan, allegedly by official paramilitary troops, has signaled a deepening of political unrest in a country bracing for more opposition protests aimed at ousting Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Paramilitary troops, known as rangers, are accused of raiding the home of Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar, the inspector general of police in the southern province of Sindh. He was kidnapped and forced to sign a warrant to arrest an opposition leader, Safdar Awan, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, a spokesman for Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, whose opposition party rules the state, said on Dunya TV on Tuesday.
While Khan’s pro-military government has yet to address the issue, Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa ordered an investigation. A spokesman for the prime minister was not immediately available for comment.
The unprecedented incident, in which nearly all of the province’s high-ranking police officers asked permission for being “ridiculed,” provides a window into the turmoil in Pakistan, which is the worst since Khan assumed power about two years ago. years.
Protests in Pakistan gather momentum and put pressure on Khan
An alliance of the 11 main opposition parties is already holding a series of nationwide demonstrations seeking the ouster of Khan over food shortages and inflation, as well as demanding that the military stop meddling in politics. .
The military, which has directly ruled Pakistan for about half of its existence since 1947, has historically played a key role in foreign and national security policy. Lately, it has expanded its role during the term of the current government. The army and the judiciary cannot be publicly criticized under Pakistan’s constitution.
Since the incident, Police Chief Mahar has ordered his officers to postpone their permits until the separate investigation ordered by the army and state government was completed, Sindh police posted on Twitter late Tuesday.
The alleged kidnapping occurred on Monday before police arrested Safdar Awan, the husband of Maryam Nawaz Sharif, daughter and political heir of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Awan, who was accused of raising political slogans during a visit to the nation’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s grave in Karachi, obtained a bond from the Sindh High Court.
It follows the arrest of journalists and opposition leaders, some of whom have been charged with treason by the Khan government for criticizing the army.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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