LAHORE, Pakistan,19 May: Pakistan\u2019s former Prime Minister Imran Khan dialed down his campaign of defiance on Friday, saying he would allow a police search of his home over allegations that he was harboring suspects wanted in recent violence during anti-government protests by his supporters.
\nKhan, who is facing about 100 legal cases against him, also appeared before a court in his hometown of Lahore to seek protection from arrest in multiple terrorism cases that authorities have raised against the country\u2019s top opposition leader.
\nHe also condemned days of violence in which his supporters attacked public property and military installations after he was dragged out of a courtroom and arrested in a graft case in the capital, Islamabad, last week. At least 10 people were killed in clashes between his supporters and police across the country.
\nThe rioting subsided only when Pakistan\u2019s Supreme Court ordered Khan\u2019s release. Police sought Khan on charges of inciting supporters of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party to violence. He denies the allegation, saying he was in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau in a graft case when the clashes erupted.
\nKhan appeared conciliatory as he appeared before an anti-terrorism court in Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab. The judge granted him protection from arrest in three terrorisms cases until early in June.
\n\u201cYes, I condemn it,\u201d Khan told reporters at the Lahore court, speaking of the rampage. \u201cThere is no Pakistani who will not condemn the violence.\u201d
\nAfter Khan\u2019s release from arrest last week and return to Lahore, police surrounded his home, alleging that he was sheltering in his upscale residence of Zaman Park between 30 to 40 suspects linked to the violence.
\nPolice, who have some 300 officers deployed around Khan\u2019s compound, threatened to raid the premises unless the suspects were handed over. The standoff was resolved with an agreement for the police to search the home later on Friday.
\nPolice separately announced they arrested six more suspects in Khan\u2019s neighborhood, allegedly as they were trying to flee. They had previously arrested eight others in the area, and a total of more than 4,500 suspects across the country.
\nFormer cricket star turned Islamist politician, Khan was ousted by a no-confidence vote in Parliament last year. He has claimed his ouster was illegal and a Western conspiracy \u2014 charges his successor, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, denies.
\nKhan remains hugely popular among grassroots followers \u2014 though two of his lawmakers and several politicians quit his party over the recent violence \u2014 and has campaigned against Sharif\u2019s government, demanding early elections.
\nHis campaign, arrest and the subsequent violence have deepened the political turmoil and economic crisis in Pakistan, where authorities are also facing a surge in militant attacks.
\nOn Friday, Sirajul Haq, the head of Pakistan\u2019s key Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party, narrowly escaped a suicide attack in Zhob, a district in the restive southwestern province of Baluchistan, police said. The bomber detonated explosives strapped to his waist when Haq was entering Zhob in a convoy of cars.
\nHaq\u2019s party said he was safe but five people were wounded in the attack.
\nThere was no immediate claim for the bombing but militants and other armed groups have staged attacks in Pakistan\u2019s Baluchistan for decades. AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE, Pakistan,19 May: Pakistan\u2019s former Prime Minister Imran Khan dialed down his campaign of defiance on Friday, saying he would allow a police search of his home over allegations that he was harboring suspects wanted in recent violence during anti-government protests by his supporters. Khan, who is facing about 100 legal cases against him, also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-216591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}