Pakistan delays Punjab election despite supreme court ruling

Former prime minister Imran Khan says election commission’s move is violation of Pakistan’s constitution

Pakistan has postponed elections in Punjab, the country’s most populated province, in a move that spurns a recent supreme court ruling and is likely to cause more sparks between supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan and the government.

In an eight-page order seen by the Guardian, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) claimed that “it is not possible to hold and organise the elections honestly, justly, fairly, in a peaceful manner”, blaming security threats and financial problems. It said it would be unable to provide a “level playing field” to all political parties as a result.

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Court cancels Imran Khan’s arrest warrant after clashes in Pakistan capital

Supporters of ex-prime minister and police fight outside court where he was addressing charges of unlawfully selling state gifts

A court in Islamabad has cancelled Imran Khan’s arrest warrant after intense clashes between police and the former prime minister’s supporters outside the judicial complex.

Khan officially appeared before the court in Pakistan’s capital on Saturday, complying with a judicial order that led to a failed attempt to arrest him on Tuesday. He is facing various legal challenges including unlawfully selling state gifts given to him by foreign dignitaries while in office from 2018 to 2022. Khan says he followed legal procedures in acquiring the gifts.

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Pakistan court orders police to halt efforts to arrest Imran Khan

High court move follows violent clashes between police and supporters outside former PM’s house in Lahore

A court in Pakistan has ordered police to suspend an operation to arrest Imran Khan, after violent clashes between the former prime minister’s supporters and law enforcement outside his house.

The vicinity of Khan’s residence became a battleground on Tuesday, when police arrived after a lower court in Islamabad issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for not appearing before it despite several summonses.

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Pakistan: riot police fire teargas on crowds trying to prevent arrest of Imran Khan

It is the second time in recent weeks that police have been dispatched to serve an arrest warrant to the former prime minister

Pakistan riot police have used water cannon and teargas to push back supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan who gathered outside his house to prevent officers from arresting him.

Khan was ousted from office by a no confidence vote last year, and has been snarled in a series of legal cases as he campaigns for early elections and his return to office.

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Pakistan police serve arrest warrants to Imran Khan to ensure court appearance

Ex-PM and former international cricketer is facing charges of misusing his office to sell state gifts

Pakistani police served arrest warrants to the former prime minister Imran Khan to ensure his appearance in court on charges of misusing his office to sell state gifts, authorities have said, after Khan’s supporters tried to prevent police entry into his home.

The election commission of Pakistan in October found the 70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician guilty of unlawfully selling gifts from foreign dignitaries.

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North-west Pakistan in grip of deadly Taliban resurgence

Misguided government efforts to rehabilitate militants have helped fuel recent terrorist activity

The bomber struck shortly before afternoon prayers, when the mosque in Peshawar’s bustling Police Lines district would be at its busiest. Hundreds of people, including many police officers, were inside as the device detonated, creating a blast so strong the roof and wall collapsed and 100 people were killed.

The attack on Monday was among the worst in years to hit Peshawar, a city in north-west Pakistan that has been ravaged relentlessly by deadly terrorist violence over decades. Hours after the attack, responsibility was claimed by a low-level commander from one faction of the Pakistan Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as revenge for the death of a fighter in Afghanistan.

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Pakistan’s Imran Khan vows to fight to ‘last drop of blood’ in first rally since being shot

Ousted PM calls off march on Islamabad to avoid further chaos but continues to press for early elections, possibly by pulling his PTI party out of regional assemblies

Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan told tens of thousands of supporters on Saturday that he would fight until his “last drop of blood” in his first public address since being shot in an assassination attempt this month.

The shooting was the latest twist in months of political turmoil that began in April when Khan was ousted by a vote of no confidence in parliament.

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Imran Khan supporters take to streets as shooting fuels Pakistan tensions

Stakes raised on Friday as clashes erupt between police and protesters in cities across Pakistan

Hundreds of police officers equipped with teargas hurriedly took positions near a junction connecting Islamabad with its twin city of Rawalpindi as a group of protesters burned wood and chanted slogans on Friday.

The two groups edged towards each other, and then the protesters hurled stones at the police, who responded with teargas rounds. Not long afterwards, the protesters dispersed, and police reopened the junction to traffic.

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Imran Khan shooting is latest incident in Pakistan’s violent political history

From the assassination of its first PM in 1951, the country has suffered waves of brutal sectarian conflict and murders

Last month, Pakistan summoned the US ambassador in Islamabad for a dressing down after President Joe Biden described the south Asian country as “one of the most dangerous nations in the world”. Biden was apparently referring to Pakistan’s combination of nuclear weapons and apparent instability. He might have been talking about the threat faced by the country’s own politicians instead.

On Thursday, the former prime minister Imran Khan was shot when his anti-government protest convoy came under attack in the east of the country, in what his aides said was a clear assassination attempt. The 70-year-old did not appear to be seriously injured but the incident underlines once again how politics in Pakistan is inseparable from violence.

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Imran Khan wounded in ‘assassination attempt’ in Pakistan

Former prime minister shot when his convoy came under fire in eastern Punjab province, party officials and police have said

Protesters have taken to the streets of Pakistan after a gunman opened fire on a convoy carrying the former prime minister Imran Khan, wounding him and killing a supporter as he led a march on Islamabad to demand snap elections.

A party aide said Khan, 70, had been wounded in his lower leg and was stable after an incident described by his supporters as an assassination attempt. “A man opened fire with an automatic weapon. Several people are wounded. Imran Khan is also injured,” said Asad Umar shortly after the shooting.

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Ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan barred from elections for five years

Election commission rules he misled officials about gifts received from foreign leaders while in office

The former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has been disqualified from running for political office for five years, after the country’s election commission ruled that he misled officials about gifts he received from foreign leaders while in power.

The decision announced on Friday is another twist in political wrangling that began even before Khan’s ejection in April, and is one of several legal battles being fought by the former international cricket star and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

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Pakistan’s PM says rival Imran Khan is ‘biggest liar on earth’

Exclusive: As economic turmoil continues, Shehbaz Sharif accuses predecessor of leaving the country in ruins

Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has accused the former premier Imran Khan of being the “the biggest liar on the face of the earth” and injecting poison into society to “dangerously polarise the electorate” after he was toppled from power earlier this year.

Speaking in his first interview from Pakistan since he took over as prime minister in April, Sharif, 70, spoke unsparingly of the “damage” that Khan, the former cricket superstar who ruled Pakistan from 2018, had done to the country in both domestic and foreign affairs.

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Pakistan court drops contempt case against ex-PM Imran Khan

High court accepts Khan’s apology in ruling that eases the threat of his disqualification from politics

A Pakistani court has accepted an apology tendered by the former prime minister Imran Khan and dropped a contempt of court case against him, his defence lawyer said, a ruling that eases the threat of his disqualification from politics.

The Islamabad high court had deferred Khan’s indictment over the contempt case after he apologised to the court in person late last month.

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Pakistan court grants Imran Khan extended bail in terrorism case

Police barred until 1 September from arresting former PM, whose supporters gathered outside court

A Pakistani court has barred officers from arresting the former prime minister Imran Khan until the end of the month, according to officials, after police filed terrorism charges against him.

The court protected Khan, the leader of Pakistan’s opposition, from arrest until 1 September over accusations that during a speech at the weekend, he threatened police officers and a judge.

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Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan charged under anti-terror law

Khan is reportedly accused of making threats to the country’s judiciary and police force

Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has been charged under anti-terrorism legislation after he gave a fiery speech to supporters at the weekend in which he vowed to sue police officers and a female judge and alleged a close aide had been tortured after his arrest.

Khan will have to “face the law for threatening and hurling abuses”, tweeted the interior minister, Rana Sanaullah.

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Salman Rushdie attack was unjustifiable, says Pakistan’s Imran Khan

In a wide-ranging Guardian interview, the former prime minister says he understands anger The Satanic Verses created ‘but you can’t justify what happened’

Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has condemned the attack on Salman Rushdie, describing it as “terrible” and “sad”, and saying that while the anger of the Islamic world at Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses was understandable, it could not justify the assault.

Khan also said he expected Afghan women to “assert their rights” in the face of Taliban restrictions in a Guardian interview in which he sought to moderate his reputation as a firebrand. He is fighting for his political survival after being ousted from office in April. Khan says his staff and followers are being persecuted and intimidated and he is battling eight-year-old charges of illicit campaign financing that could lead to him being banned from politics.

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Pakistan ‘inches away’ from civil unrest after ousting of Imran Khan

Former PM is accused of creating wave of public anger that could prove difficult to control

On Tuesday, two days after Imran Khan had been ousted as Pakistan’s prime minister in a dramatic no-confidence vote, Noor Alam Khan – a politician and former member of Khan’s party – was eating dinner at a restaurant when he was confronted by another diner.

The man began shouting “traitor”, “American agent” and “turncoat” and then lunged over to punch Khan, who had been attempting to ignore him. In the middle of the restaurant, the politician and the angry voter began to brawl, with food and tables going flying.

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Imran Khan threatened to impose martial law, documents suggests

Pakistan’s now ousted PM appeared to give opposition ultimatum: agree to fresh elections or I’ll bring in army

Imran Khan, who was ousted as Pakistan’s prime minister on Saturday, threatened to implement martial law rather than hand over power to the opposition, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

According to security officials and opposition figures, he attempted several moves to hold on to power in the days and hours leading up to the no-confidence vote. However, he failed to stop it happening, and in the final minutes before midnight on Saturday, he was ousted from office.

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Pakistan parliament ousts Imran Khan in last-minute vote

Pakistan’s prime minister found to have broken the law by attempting to stop vote going ahead

Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, has lost a no-confidence vote in parliament after a dramatic week in which he violated the constitution in an attempt to stop the move going ahead.

Khan, the former premier cricketer turned pious Islamist politician, has been fighting for his political life for weeks, after losing his parliamentary majority.

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Pakistan court orders Imran Khan confidence vote to go ahead

Supreme court rules PM acted unconstitutionally in dissolving parliament before confidence vote

Pakistan’s supreme court has dealt a devastating blow to the prime minister, Imran Khan, by ruling that he acted unconstitutionally in dissolving parliament prior to a confidence vote he was expected to lose, and ordering the vote to go ahead this weekend.

In the conclusion to a hearing that has gripped Pakistan for the past four days, the chief justice of Pakistan, Umar Ata Bandial, said Khan had violated the law in his attempt to stop the vote, which was widely expected to oust him.

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