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| Imran Khan's arrest and recent events, what benefit and what harm can be done? |
It was too late to arrest former Prime Minister Imran Khan from the premises of the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday when a series of protests and violent demonstrations broke out in different cities of the country.
During the last two days, the protesters have damaged public and private properties, while incidents of arson also occurred. After this incident, the police detained hundreds of workers including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, and the central leadership of Tehreek-e-Insaf due to the fear of breach of peace.
After the arrest of Imran Khan and the violent incidents that followed, there is now a debate in political and social circles as to which party can gain or lose politically in this whole affair.
BBC has tried to find out the answer to this question by talking to political leaders, military experts, and analysts.
According to the leaders of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) i.e. the political parties in the current government, this is a legal matter and now the decision of the court will tell who can benefit or lose.
Senator Nizhat Sadiq from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz told the BBC that when anyone, including a political leader, is wanted for investigation in a case, the law says that he should be arrested and investigated. Regardless of who has political gain or loss in the whole affair.
According to him, Imran Khan is a political leader and there should have been a reaction to his arrest, but who will benefit or lose depends on the outcome of this NAB case.
The leader of Pakistan People's Party, Hasan Murtaza, while talking to BBC, said that this is a legal matter and there is no interference of the government in it. According to him, Imran Khan has been arrested in a corruption case with which the government has nothing to do.
According to Hasan Murtaza, the way Tehreek-e-Insaf protested, everyone knew how violent the party's workers are.
Tehreek-e-Insaf Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi while talking to BBC said that his party workers were not involved in the violent protests but it was all done as part of a conspiracy against Tehreek-e-Insaf so that Imran Khan and the Tehreek-e-Insaf would destroy it. Justice can be imposed and this party can be politically harmed.
According to Shah Mahmood, he has told his workers in clear words that they must protest but remain peaceful so that the government does not get any excuse to take action against them.
In response to the question regarding the benefit or the arrest of Imran Khan, the Vice Chairman of Tehreek-e-Insaf said that the rulers have pushed the country towards further political instability. According to him, there is an economic crisis in the country, inflation, and unemployment, so the arrest of Imran Khan is nothing but political ignorance.
It should be noted that Shah Mehmood Qureshi is also the chairman of this seven-member committee which was handling the affairs of the party in the absence of Imran Khan, however, most of the members of this committee have now been arrested under breach of peace.
Lieutenant General Retired Talat Masood told the BBC that apparently the army and the country have suffered a major loss in this whole matter.
According to him, for the first time, people entered the GHQ and military residences, as long as the army continues to interfere in politics, the crisis will continue to worsen.
Analyst Naseem Zahra told BBC that after what happened in the last two days, Tehreek-e-Insaf will now face terrorism cases from the accountability courts. According to him, the arrest of Imran Khan has become a complicated matter because on the one hand, efforts are being made to exclude Imran Khan from the election race before the election and on the other hand, Imran Khan himself is against the army and ISI. A tough stance has been taken.
However, Naseem Zahra says that even in the previous government, political leaders were arrested in similar cases and at that time Imran Khan's stance was that they should face the courts.
Journalist Hamid Mir told BBC that the way Tehreek-e-Insaf workers reacted after the arrest of Imran Khan was not correct. According to him, Imran Khan will suffer the most because what happened was not a political reaction and it will only harm Imran Khan.
According to him, for how many days PTI workers can burn the houses of GHQ and corps commanders.
Concurring with Talat Masood's comment, he said, "The genie that was brewed is now out of the bottle." Or say that the crop that was sown is now ready.
According to Hamid Mir, the claim of Asad Umar and Shah Mehmood Qureshi that these workers are not Tehreek-e-Insaaf is not true. According to him, these two leaders joined Tehreek-e-Insaaf after 2011, while the 'reaction' seen yesterday was that of the old PTI.
It should be noted that PTI leaders term violent protests against their party policy.
From the reaction of Tehreek-e-Insaaf leaders, it seems that there is uneasiness in the party about a violent reaction.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Fawad Chaudhry while talking to the media after filing a petition against the arrest of Imran Khan in the Supreme Court said that the internet services were suspended in the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday due to which the leadership workers Lost connection. He and his workers have appealed to hold peaceful protests.
According to Talat Masood, it is true that Imran Khan was initially given a lot of 'lift' by the army through which he rose to power, but now the army is not supporting him.
According to him, the arrest of Imran Khan has also proved that people are standing with Imran Khan. According to him, he has objections to Imran Khan's style of politics, but the benefit of this whole situation will be to Imran Khan in the end.
According to him, Imran Khan does not respect democratic institutions and parliament and is not familiar with democratic values, but maybe the way people are supporting him now, they should go ahead and value these institutions.