Pakistan arrests Imran Khan's party leaders as army deployed to quell unrest
Pakistani authorities took senior leaders of former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party into custody as the government called out the army to help end widespread and deadly protests sparked by Khan's arrest.
At least three party leaders have been arrested so far, one from outside the Supreme Court late on Wednesday and another, a foreign minister in Khan's cabinet, early on Thursday.
Authorities arrested Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a former foreign minister and vice chairman of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party early on Thursday.
Police have arrested more than 1,650 protesters in Khan's home province of Punjab for violence, the police chief's office said in a statement. Some 80 workers of Khan's party were also arrested in the southwestern city of Quetta, police said.
Tensions remained high in the nuclear-armed nation with paramilitary troops and police on the streets in major cities on Thursday. Mobile data services remained suspended and schools and offices were closed in two of Pakistan's four provinces.
The Islamabad police said on early on Thursday that troops have reached the capital city.
Protesters have stormed military buildings, ransacked the residence of a top army general in the eastern city of Lahore, and set ablaze state buildings and assets in other places since Khan's arrest by the anti-graft agency on Tuesday in a land fraud case.
At least eight people have died in the violence that has aggravated instability in the South Asian country of 220 million people as it grapples with a severe economic crisis and eroding hopes of a quick resumption of International Monetary Fund bailout funds.
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