Imran calls for independent probe into vandalism during protests

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday called for an independent investigation of the burning of state buildings during violent protests that gripped the country following his arrest, Aaj News reported.

Addressing his party's supporters for the first time since he was released from National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) custody, Imran said he was thankful to the judiciary for saving him from going to jail.

He also thanked the public that came out in his support and protested peacefully. "My supporters, voters, and workers have always remained peaceful in our 27 years of politics,” he said.

Imran said vandalism is not his party's philosophy. “When I was shot, shouldn’t there have been vandalism? Why didn’t it happen then?" he asked.

Criticizing the PML-N leadership, he said Nawaz Sharif destroyed an independent judiciary. "When an independent judiciary is destroyed, your independence goes with it," he said.

“The judiciary is there to protect your fundamental rights,” he said.

Imran blamed army leadership for his arrest. “I told them to show me the warrant and I was ready to go with them," he remarked.

“We were sitting calmly, but they broke glasses and attacked as if Pakistan’s biggest terrorist was sitting there.

“What were the Rangers doing there? It was the police’s job.”

The PTI chief said that people who want elections don’t desire anarchy.

“And those who fear they will be destroyed in elections […] they want anarchy,” he said.

Imran's address comes hours after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif gave a 72-hour deadline to law-enforcement authorities to arrest planners, attackers, and instigators of violence that was seen in Pakistan over the past few days after the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan.

Speaking at the Punjab Safe Cities Authority following his visit to the Lahore Corps Commander's house, he said: “We will create an example out of the miscreants who vandalised and attacked state institutions so that such an incident never takes place in Pakistan again”.

Following the arrest of PT) Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday, protests erupted throughout Pakistan that transformed into violence.

Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested and at least eight have been killed since Tuesday, as per Reuters.

Hundreds of protesters blocked highways and main entry, and exit routes to all major cities, attacking and burning state buildings, police, and public vehicles and rampaged through army installations.