9th May, 2023:
Chairman PTI Imran Khan, in the morning reached the Islamabad High Court for his thumb impression, his lawyers were also alongside. When Imran Khan was in the verification room, personeel of paramilitary forces in riot gear entered the compound of the court and tried to arrest Khan from the verification room. The personnel of the paramilitary force violently arrested Imran Khan, destroying court property, injuring citizens and lawyers present there. Khan was forcefully put in ‘daala’ on which about 20 soldiers also got on after which the vehicle rushed out of the gates of the Court. It was then revealed that he was arrested against active warrants issued by the National Accountability Bureau in the Al-Qadir trust case.
There and then, applications against his arrest were filed in the Islamabad High Court, from where Khan had been arrested, the matter was heard urgently, after the court questioned his arrest and wanted answers, and threatened to summon the Prime Minister. After which The IG Islamabad stood before the court and informed that the warrants had been issued by NAB and they had arrested Imran Khan with the help of paramilitary forces, after hearing all parties, the Court decided that Imran Khan’s arrest was legal and valid.
The former Prime Minister was out of the public’s eye, this caused massive widespread protests throughout the country, police, protesters and law enforcement agencies came face to face. Roads were blocked in major cities like Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and many others. Public and private properties were set ablaze, people broke into sensitive military establishments like the General Headquarters of the Pakistan Army of GHQ, and the corps commander Lahore’s official residence and vandalised them. There were also reports of major brutalities by the law enforcement agencies and PG also received reports that live ammunition was fired at the protestors at the Corps Commander house in Lahore. Pakistan was at unrest, and the leader of the protesters, Imran Khan was still in custody.
A notification had surfaced on social media, reading that the police line’s guest house in Islamabad was given the status of interim court and Imran Khan would be heard there by a Judicial member.
10th May, 2023:
On the 10th of May, Imran Khan was heard by a judge in the Police lines guest house, the NAB prosecutor requested the accountability court to grant the NAB 14 day long physical remand but the court remanded Khan for 8 days to NAB, Imran Khan was now officially in NAB custody in the Al-Qadir trust case. The same day, prohibitory orders of section 144 were implemented in Punjab, and on the request of the caretaker government of Punjab, the interior ministry called in the military to maintain peace and order throughout the province.
Following Punjab, army troops were also called in the federal capital to maintain peace and order while multiple PTI leaders were being arrested at the same time.
11th May, 2023
The next day, Imran Khan’s lawyers had filed an application in the Supreme Court of Pakistan in Islamabad, challenging the arrest of the chairman PTI, Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, at that time Khan was with the NAB. Suddenly, came a turning point, the Supreme Court started hearing the case of Imran Khan’s arrest from the Islamabad High Court’s compound, after hearing the lawyers of Imran Khan and the government and its institutions, at around 3:30 pm the Apex court ordered the government that Imran Khan be brought before it by 4:30 pm.
At around 5:30 pm, after everyone eagerly waited for Imran Khan to be brought to the SC for more than an hour, he reached there under strict security measures from the rear entrance of the court which is usually shut. As Khan got on the rostrum, the Chief Justice wished him well, Khan then said that he was abducted from the IHC and that he was beaten. The hearing started and after hearing all parties, the Apex Court ordered that Imran Khan Niazi be released from detention on grounds of the way he was arrested from the premises of the IHC. The court further directed Khan to contact the IHC regarding the legality of the warrants against him and to stay as a guest at the police guest house for another night until he contacted the IHC the next day, at the guest house, later that night, President Dr. Arif Alvi and CM Gilgit Baltistan visited Imran khan at the guest house to meet him. Later the President also wrote a letter to the Prime Minister regarding the arrest of Imran Khan and its aftermath.
The day ended on a positive note for the PTI and its supporters and especially for Imran Khan.
12th May, 2023
On the 12th of May, on the orders of the Supreme Court, Imran Khan reached the Islamabad High Court and appealed that he be granted bail. After hearing Khan’s plea and the government’s narrative, the Islamabad High Court granted him pre-arrest bail in the Al-Qadir trust case; it also was ordered that Imran Khan could not be arrested in any new case until the 17th of May.
6:30 pm: Imran khan expected to leave for his residence in Lahore from Islamabad in heavy security.
10:10 pm: Reportedly, shots are being fired around the Islamabad High Court, Imran Khan is still inside the building.
10:21 pm: Imran Khan releases a video statement from the Islamabad High Court claiming that he is not being allowed to leave the IHC since the last 3 hours, he directed the nation to get ready to protest peacefully.
10:57 pm: Imran Khan enroute Lahore, says he was forcibly kept at the IHC.
10:59 pm: DG ISPR rules out imposition of martial law, says army is united under COAS.
13th May, 2023
3:24 am: Imran Khan finally reaches his Zaman Park residence in Lahore; he was warmly received by his fans while he was enroute to Lahore from Islamabad.
