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Khan's aide Fawad Chaudhry said the Lahore high court had extended
an order to halt the police operation until Friday. The state
information minister, Amir Mir, confirmed the court order.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, dozens of Khan's supporters, armed with
batons and sling-shots, barricaded his home to prevent security
forces from arresting him for failing to show up in court over a
case in which he is charged with illegally selling state gifts given
to him while he was prime minister. Khan denies the charges.
The court-ordered attempt to arrest Khan, which began on Tuesday,
triggered clashes between his supporters and security forces in his
Lahore neighbourhood, raising fears about the political stability of
nuclear-armed Pakistan as it faces an economic crisis.
The violence, in which protesters torched police vehicles, a
water-cannon truck and scores of cars and motorcycles and hurled
petrol bombs at security forces firing tear gas and rubber bullets,
subsided after the high court halted the police operation on
Wednesday.
A lower court in Islamabad had issued a warrant against former
international cricketer Khan for defying orders to present himself
in court over charges that he unlawfully sold state gifts given to
him by foreign dignitaries when he was prime minister from 2018 to
2022.
Khan denies the charges. The National Election Commission had found
him guilty and barred Khan from holding public office for one
parliamentary term.
The legal proceedings against Khan began after he was ousted from
office in a parliamentary vote early last year. Since then, he has
been demanding a snap election and holding nationwide protest
rallies, and was shot and wounded in one of these rallies. Current
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has rejected Khan's demands, saying
the election would be held as scheduled later this year.
(Writing by Asif Shahzad and Miral Fahmy; Editing by Raju
Gopalakrishnan)
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