Why has ex-Pakistan PM Khan been indicted over violence on May 9, 2023?

ISLAMABAD — Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, was indicted on Thursday (Dec 5) by a court on charges of inciting his supporters to attack the country's military and its installations in 2023.

Here are the details of the country-wide violence that took place on May 9, 2023 that led to the indictment. Khan denies the charges.

Imran Khan arrest

On May 9, 2023, a day after Pakistan's powerful military publicly rebuked Khan for repeatedly accusing a senior military officer of trying to engineer his assassination, the former Prime Minister was arrested by the anti-corruption agency.

At the time of his arrest, Khan and his wife were accused of having received, when he was still prime minister, land worth up to 7 billion rupees ($25.20 million)from a property developer who had been charged in Britain with money laundering.

His arrest sparked a wave of protests by his supporters across the country.

What transpired during the protests

The government said supporters of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party had attacked important state buildings and damaged vehicles. It also alleged his supporters ransacked military facilities, raising new worries about the stability of the nuclear-armed country.

Some demonstrators were later tried in military courts for attacking military installations.

The marches against Khan's arrest took place in several cities of Pakistan, prompting authorities to shut down the internet and impose a curfew for prolonged periods.

Hundreds of protesters blocked highways, main entry and exit routes to all major cities, attacked and burned state buildings and vehicles and rampaged through army installations.

Nearly 2,000 people were arrested and at least eight killed. The government called out the army to help restore order.

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Khan is charged with inciting the violence, in one of many cases against him. 

Khan and his party say the legal cases against him were based on made-up charges to keep him out of politics at the behest of the country's powerful army after he had fallen out with the military's generals. The army denies the accusation.

What has happened since May 2023?

Khan was detained last May but was released on bail within days. He was later arrested again in August 2023 after he was handed a three-year prison sentence in a corruption case.

He has been in jail since then.

His party was barred from Pakistan's election on Feb. 8 2024, but the would-be candidates stood as independents. 

Despite the ban and Khan's imprisonment for convictions on charges ranging from leaking state secrets to corruption, millions of the former cricketer's supporters voted for him. Independent candidates from his party won the highest number of seats but not enough to form a government on their own. Khan cannot be part of any government while he remains in prison. 

His party has organised multiple protests over his imprisonment, with one of the largest protests coming last month. 

In November 2024, his wife Bushra Khan, commonly known as Bushra Bibi, led a protest by thousands of supporters in the heavily guarded Pakistani capital, escalating their face-off with the government and its military backers for his release.

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