LAHORE – Minutes after an Islamabad court sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan to three years in jail, Punjab Police arrested him from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore allegedly in a very humiliating manner and shifted him to Kot Lakhpat Jail.
According to a viral audio call of a man who claims to be an eyewitness to Imran Khan’s arrest, the Punjab Police raided the former prime minister’s house, broke down the doors and the main gate, barged into his bedroom, arrested him, roughed him up, humiliated him, dragged him, covered his faced with a cloth and pushed him to the police vehicle.
According to the man who claims to be the witness to Imran Khan’s arrest at his Zaman Park residence, “The police forced their entry from the rear gate, beat up the security guards and broke down the doors. We immediately informed Imran Khan that police have arrived to arrest you. Khan said he is getting ready in five minutes and coming out. Khan went inside and wore his track suit and shoes. In the meantime, the police broke down the main gate and forced their entry into Khan’s house. They beat up all six or seven staff members inside the house and ripped their clothes. The policemen were doing this when Khan came out and told them that he is not going anywhere and he will voluntarily surrender to the police. They caught Khan and pulled him.
“Neither Khan nor his staff panicked. He asked the policemen that why they are doing so when he is ready to go with them. Even when Khan was walking with them, they pulled and pushed him and yelled at him ‘you come with us’. They said someone put a cloth on his face and then the policemen put the cloth on Khan’s face. After putting the cloth on his face, they pulled and pushed him to the police vehicle. In this entire scenario, Khan’s staff did not panic. Khan was fully confident at that moment. Khan said he is ready to surrender voluntarily to the police, but the police should not beat his people. The police even tried to enter Khan’s bedroom and finally arrested him and took him away.”
Imran Khan’s picture below was taken soon after he was arrested in his sweat shirt and track pants and put into the police vehicle. The man sitting beside Khan and smiling is Captain (Retired) Liaqat Ali Malik, Superintendent of Police at the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) in Lahore. A couple of months ago, a large contingent of the Punjab Police accompanied by CIA SP Liaquat Malik raided Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence soon after he left for Islamabad for a court appearance.
The Punjab Police had razed the main gate of Khan’s house during that raid, ruthlessly beat up the people present inside Khan’s house and then planted some weapons and prohibited stuff inside Khan’s house to implicate him in different cases. When Liaquat Malik was leaving Zaman Park after bulldozing the main gate of Khan’s house and beating ordinary people present there, some media persons confronted him and he could not face them; he was simply trying to run away.
A popular journalist and anchor at Bol News TV, Makhdoom Shahab-ud-Din also shared Khan’s picture on his Twitter page soon after his arrest.
Latest picture after arrest! pic.twitter.com/ksE2LGbv3J
— Makhdoom Shahab-ud-Din (@ShahabSpeaks) August 5, 2023