<p>Islamabad: Pakistani police arrested several lawmakers and leaders of ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan's party in midnight raids a day after it held a major rally in the capital to demand his release, the party and police said on Tuesday.</p><p>The former cricket star, 71, has been in jail for over a year since his ouster in 2022 after a falling-out with powerful military generals, which has spawned the worst political turmoil in decades in economically unstable 241 million people nation.</p><p>A police spokesman confirmed the detention of four individuals but gave no details of charges. Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said nearly a dozen of its parliamentarians had been picked up in Islamabad. Others had sought refuge in parliament to evade law enforcers, it said.</p>.Pakistan's defence minister says evidence against Imran Khan points towards military trial.<p>Its lawmakers protested in a session of the National Assembly on Tuesday, calling for action against what they alleged was the illegal entry of law enforcement personnel into the premises of parliament.</p><p>"Plainclothes people entered the parliament and arrested people's representatives - this is an assault on Pakistan's democracy," PTI legislator Ali Muhammad said.</p><p>National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq announced that he would investigate the complaints, which, if verified, could result in legal action. He ordered all detained lawmakers to be returned to parliament.</p><p>Media footage showed police pushing the lawmakers into vehicles outside parliament, a scene that Omar Ayub Khan, the party's leader of the opposition, called "despicable".</p><p>"Yesterday's massive protest has sent shivers down the government's spine," Khan's aide, Zulfikar Bukhari, said in a post on X, calling the detentions illegal.</p><p>Party chairman Gohar Khan was among those held, added Bukhari, who is also a party spokesman.</p><p>Candidates backed by the PTI won the most seats in a general election in February but fell short of the majority required to form a government. Khan's rivals cobbled together a coalition instead to set up a bloc under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.</p><p>The crackdown came a day after the PTI rally held on Islamabad's outskirts to demand Khan's release was marred by clashes between supporters and police that injured a senior police official.</p><p>The PTI said the violence began after police lobbed teargas canister at a peaceful gathering in a bid to disperse it.</p><p>Some party leaders, such as Ali Amin Gandapur, chief minister of the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, criticised the ruling alliance and the military in speeches at the rally.</p><p>"Put your house in order," he advised the military, warning against any attempt at a military trial for Khan. "I am not scared of the army uniform."</p><p>Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Gandapur had threatened to free Khan from jail by force and incited his supporters to engage in violence. </p>
<p>Islamabad: Pakistani police arrested several lawmakers and leaders of ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan's party in midnight raids a day after it held a major rally in the capital to demand his release, the party and police said on Tuesday.</p><p>The former cricket star, 71, has been in jail for over a year since his ouster in 2022 after a falling-out with powerful military generals, which has spawned the worst political turmoil in decades in economically unstable 241 million people nation.</p><p>A police spokesman confirmed the detention of four individuals but gave no details of charges. Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said nearly a dozen of its parliamentarians had been picked up in Islamabad. Others had sought refuge in parliament to evade law enforcers, it said.</p>.Pakistan's defence minister says evidence against Imran Khan points towards military trial.<p>Its lawmakers protested in a session of the National Assembly on Tuesday, calling for action against what they alleged was the illegal entry of law enforcement personnel into the premises of parliament.</p><p>"Plainclothes people entered the parliament and arrested people's representatives - this is an assault on Pakistan's democracy," PTI legislator Ali Muhammad said.</p><p>National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq announced that he would investigate the complaints, which, if verified, could result in legal action. He ordered all detained lawmakers to be returned to parliament.</p><p>Media footage showed police pushing the lawmakers into vehicles outside parliament, a scene that Omar Ayub Khan, the party's leader of the opposition, called "despicable".</p><p>"Yesterday's massive protest has sent shivers down the government's spine," Khan's aide, Zulfikar Bukhari, said in a post on X, calling the detentions illegal.</p><p>Party chairman Gohar Khan was among those held, added Bukhari, who is also a party spokesman.</p><p>Candidates backed by the PTI won the most seats in a general election in February but fell short of the majority required to form a government. Khan's rivals cobbled together a coalition instead to set up a bloc under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.</p><p>The crackdown came a day after the PTI rally held on Islamabad's outskirts to demand Khan's release was marred by clashes between supporters and police that injured a senior police official.</p><p>The PTI said the violence began after police lobbed teargas canister at a peaceful gathering in a bid to disperse it.</p><p>Some party leaders, such as Ali Amin Gandapur, chief minister of the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, criticised the ruling alliance and the military in speeches at the rally.</p><p>"Put your house in order," he advised the military, warning against any attempt at a military trial for Khan. "I am not scared of the army uniform."</p><p>Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Gandapur had threatened to free Khan from jail by force and incited his supporters to engage in violence. </p>