On May 9, former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan was arrested from exterior the Islamabad High Court in reference to the Al-Qadir Trust case. This case includes Imran Khan, his spouse Bushra Bibi and real-estate tycoon Malik Riyaz. Riyaz’s real-estate firm, Bahria Town, had allegedly given land within the type of a “donation” to the non-profit organisation Al-Qadir Trust to construct a college. But the one two trustees had been Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi. The understanding is that this “donation” was in change for Khan defending Riyaz’s agency from cash laundering expenses. Moreover, “The allegation is that the settlement between the firm and the PTI government caused a loss of 190 million pounds to the national exchequer”. Dawn (May 10) reported that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan mentioned Imran Khan “was picked up for failing to join a corruption investigation involving an alleged land transaction”.

However, the character of the arrest appears to recommend in any other case. Express Tribune (May 11) says, “The fact that Rangers were put into high gear in a commando action inside the court has drawn the ire from the IHC Chief Justice, who has summoned the entire administrative hierarchy at work, to probe who went overboard and on who’s dictum.” The Nation (May 10) says, “Even if the arrest is legal, the optics surrounding it are quite problematic. This was part of a NAB investigation, but there was no NAB officer present at the time of the arrest.” Daily Times (May 10) factors out, “Arrests before conviction carry the hallmarks of political victimisation”.

Meanwhile, the depth of public protests at Khan’s arrest “signal that public anger is also directed at the military” (Dawn, May 10). News International (May 11) notes, “The scenes that were witnessed on Tuesday (May 9) were indeed disturbing. PTI protesters ransacked, vandalised and even set on fire some public and private property.” But “Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke to the nation on Wednesday (May 10) night, calling Imran’s arrest lawful” (News International, May 11).

On May 11, a three-member bench of the Supreme Court below Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial granted relief to Imran Khan saying the arrest was “invalid and unlawful”. The order requested to maneuver Khan right into a Police Guest House for the night time. Express Tribune (May 12) says that this determination has “consolidated the convention of adherence to law”. Dawn (May 12), alternatively, says “Mr Khan’s arrest had come at a steep cost both for them and the country, and here the Supreme Court — already much-criticised by the present government for being ‘overly sympathetic’ to the PTI’s worldview — once again pulled him out of the state’s grasp.”

On May 12, the following morning, Imran Khan was offered as soon as once more earlier than the Islamabad High Court and granted bail for all 145 circumstances in opposition to him, which implies that he can’t be re-arrested on the identical expenses for the following two weeks. Khan returned to his Zaman Park home triumphant and recorded a video of himself saying, “violence and vandalism is not my philosophy” and he “deman­ded an independent investigation into the May 9 incident of torching national public buildings, including the corps commander’s residence in Lahore and firing on unarmed protesters”.

In all of this political uproar and Pakistan’s ongoing financial disaster, the collective media narrative stays that “Civilians have borne the brunt of an unstable Pakistan and their frustration and anger with the authority’s inability to provide relief is justified” (The Nation, May 14). Dawn (May 14) provides, “There is a very real possibility that we may see the unleashing of total chaos if someone doesn’t push the reset button.”

On India: Manipur violence and the Asia Cup disaster

With regard to India, there have been two matters of debate in Pakistan. The first was the violence in Manipur, because of tribal standing being granted to the Meitei group. The second was the difficulty of location for the Asia Cup.

On Manipur, Express Tribune (May 9) says, “the main cause of the dispute is over land ownership”. They make a comparability with “the BJP central government’s actions in Occupied Kashmir — namely, giving ‘outsiders’ property rights that may skew demographics and strengthen their own voting bases at the expense of established local populations”. Daily Times (May 8) agrees with this saying, “the current riots in Manipur do not stem from religious violence as much as they do from the aggressive integrationist attempts of the state.”

The second concern of the Asia Cup stems from India’s unwillingness to play any cricket match in Pakistan. As the host nation, Pakistan was to host all matches however BCCI chief Jay Shah made it clear that Team India wouldn’t get clearance to play in Pakistan. The Pakistan Cricket Board then recommended UAE as a center floor for India to play its matches. That has, in flip, unsettled Sri Lanka and Bangladesh who’re hesitant to need to journey throughout Pakistan and the UAE for his or her matches. Dawn (May 14) says, “It’s clear that the Board of Cricket Control in India is keen to see the event being shifted out of Pakistan”. However, “the interim committee chairman of the PCB Najam Sethi has [already] ceded more ground… [and so] the board must now stand by its final offer.”