Ali Muhammad Khan, leader of the PTI, was arrested again.
Accusations of bribery led to the arrest, the lawyer said.
After being released on Thursday under the orders of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), Ali Muhammad Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was detained again on Friday.
The PTI leader has been transported to the Toru police station after his counsel informed the media that the present arrest was made on corruption charges.
Protests broke out across the country after Khan’s detention on May 9, and the PHC heard a petition yesterday demanding his release under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).
The ruling in favor of the defendant today involved terrorism-related allegations. However, the judge made it clear that Khan might be taken into custody once more if he was wanted in any other instances.
As soon as the ex-minister of state exited the courthouse, he was taken into custody once more.
Khan has been arrested five times for varying reasons.
Khan had earlier told reporters that his party’s leader “has always subscribed to a peaceful political struggle and stood by the rule of law” before he went before the court.
With the conviction that “the law will win” in the end, Khan vowed to face all charges.
He argued that while those responsible for the events on May 9 should be held accountable, filing a charge sheet against the entire PTI would be unfair.
He went on to say that his party “does not stand by the May 9 miscreants,” and that “the PTI is a central party with a vote bank in all four provinces.”
It is “inappropriate,” he said, that the events of May 9 are “being used to sideline the PTI.” He acknowledged that “the country suffered” on that day.
Khan is still confident that the PTI would be able to establish a government, saying that “this party is the result of a two-year long struggle.”
After the government blamed the PTI leader for the nationwide unrest that ensued after his arrest in a graft case on May 9, a number of PTI legislators left the party.
The GHQ and the mansion of the Lahore corps commander were vandalized, while government buildings and military installations were targeted by protesters.
Notably, approximately one hundred former PTI members of the national and provincial parliament have defected to Jahangir Khan Tareen’s new Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party.
