Pakistan arrests hundreds of supporters as ex-PM Imran Khan in custody

Pakistani authorities have taken senior leaders of former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party into custody as the government called out the army to help end widespread protests sparked by his arrest.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a former foreign minister and vice chairman of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was arrested early on Thursday, a statement on his Twitter profile said.

Two other senior PTI leaders, Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry, were arrested on Wednesday, the latter from outside the Supreme Court minutes after he spoke to reporters. The party has challenged Khan's arrest at the top court.

Tensions remained high in the country with paramilitary troops and police on the streets in major cities. 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.

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.

Khan was indicted by a Pakistani court in an unrelated case on Wednesday for unlawfully selling state gifts during his premiership between 2018 and 2022.

The corruption cases against Khan are two of more than 100 cases registered against him since his ouster in April 2022 in a parliamentary no confidence vote.

In most of the cases, Khan faces being barred from holding public office if convicted, with a national election scheduled for November.

He has not slowed his campaign against the ouster even after being wounded in a November attack on his convoy as he led a protest march to Islamabad calling for snap general elections.

The violent protests that followed Khan's arrest on Tuesday by the country's anti-graft agency have hit commercial activity in Pakistan hard.

Mobile data services have remained shut since Tuesday night on the orders of the interior ministry.

Many major roads and businesses have also remained shut, mainly in the eastern city of Lahore, Pakistan's second-largest city.