Radical Islamists storm supreme court after Imran Khan is released

Radical Islamists storm supreme court after Imran Khan is released​

Pakistan remains on a knife edge as the former prime minister is released on bail and regional elections go ahead

BySamaan Lateef15 May 2023 • 3:03pm

Hundreds of radical Islamists with close ties to the ruling government in Pakistan attacked the Supreme Court after judges intervened to free the former prime minister Imran Khan.

Donning mustard uniforms and wielding sticks, the protesters scaled the entrance of the Red Zone in Islamabad, where the court is located, to demonstrate after Mr Khan’s arrest last week was deemed illegal.

Mr Khan was again in court on Monday facing more corruption charges, this time levelled at his wife too. He was released on bail until May 24.

Pakistan has been on a knife edge since Mr Khan was arrested, with thousands of his supporters taking to the streets, angry at the ruling government and closely entwined military establishment.

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan arrives amid fierce protection from supporters after an assassination attempt last year CREDIT: ARIF ALI/AFP

Imran Khan's security personnnel surround his car as he leaves court CREDIT: AFP/MURTAZA SYED

Following his initial arrest, Mr Khan was freed on a technicality by Supreme Court judges, angering authorities. In response to the court's decision, hundreds of radical Islamists, supported by the ruling government and military, attacked the Supreme Court in Islamabad on Monday.

Protesters from Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) broke into the high-security red zone apparently to threaten the judges. The protesters were joined by Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the chief organiser of the ruling party and daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

In a televised statement on Monday, defence minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif accused the Supreme Court of siding with Mr Khan. He suggested the court “examine the conduct of the chief justice” and take legal action against him.

Mr Khan claimed in a tweet on Monday that the sit-in was being orchestrated to remove the chief justice. The protest is a sign of escalating tensions between the judiciary and the government of prime minister Shahbaz Sharif, who replaced Mr Khan.

Radical Islamists outside Pakistan's supreme court in Islamabad on Monday CREDIT: AAMIR QURESHI/AFP

Sharif's party and supporters are also angry at the Supreme Court insisting regional elections on May 14 must go ahead. Mr Khan’s popularity among voters has made the ruling government and military anxious as they fear his party may sweep the polls in Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Khan alleges that the Pakistan military plans to imprison him for the next 10 years on sedition charges and ban his political party. However, he has vowed to fight for "real freedom" until the last drop of his blood and prefers death over enslavement.

His arrest last week triggered protests and his furious supporters descended on major cities and military sites across the country in an unprecedented show of defiance against the powerful military.

Tensions in Pakistan were already high after Mr Khan named a senior officer in the feared Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) military spy network as being behind the attempt on his life. Mr Khan has been locked in a bitter row with the military, which he alleges oversaw his ousting in a no confidence vote in 2022.

Pro-government protest the ruling by supreme court in Islamabad CREDIT: AFP/AAMIR QURESHI

The military has ruled Pakistan for almost half of its history, and although it is widely seen as pulling the strings of political affairs, discussing that influence in public has long been deemed taboo.

Nearly 7,000 supporters of Khan have been arrested in a countrywide crackdown against protesters who attacked military installations. Police and intelligence agencies are accused of torturing Khan's workers, including women.

Mr Khan returned to the Lahore High Court on Monday where his lawyers said they were seeking information on fresh cases linking him to the violence that followed his arrest. The case will continue on Tuesday.

Mr Khan was accompanied by his wife, Bushra Bibi, who is tangled up in the same corruption case that led to the former leader's arrest.

Mr Khan's team erected a white curtain between his vehicle and the courtroom to shield the couple from the media.

Radical Islamists storm supreme court after Imran Khan is released

Pakistan remains on a knife edge as the former prime minister is released on bail and regional elections go ahead

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[El Sidd]

What's a radical Islamist?
Quite inappropriate the article title.

 

[DarkDay]

Genuine question why would any "Islamist" support the current puppet government? One would think they'd support Imran Khan, the Muslim populist? I'm confused.

Also the word "Islamist" is so casually being thrown around in the media it's becoming so overused it will lose it's effect.

 

[HAIDER]

Genuine question why would any "Islamist" support the current puppet government? One would think they'd support Imran Khan, the Muslim populist? I'm confused.

Also the word "Islamist" is so casually being thrown around in the media it's becoming so overused it will lose it's effect.

Hi family members are in key post without merit. He is one greedy bastardz.

How many relatives of Maulana Fazlur Rehman are in the government? | Black And White​

 

[Sliver]

I guess the thinking was:
The people protesting against IK's release were liberal and progressive
So if we have the opposing forces to be 'islamic', it would be tough to counter them.

After all, you can't really counter an Islamic argument against anyone.

 

[Indos]

Genuine question why would any "Islamist" support the current puppet government? One would think they'd support Imran Khan, the Muslim populist? I'm confused.

Also the word "Islamist" is so casually being thrown around in the media it's becoming so overused it will lose it's effect.

Do you forget that IK target this grup when he was in power?

As far as I know there is one Islamist party/goup that is banned during IK rule

So there is already beef between them

 

[Menace2Society]

Genuine question why would any "Islamist" support the current puppet government? One would think they'd support Imran Khan, the Muslim populist? I'm confused.

Also the word "Islamist" is so casually being thrown around in the media it's becoming so overused it will lose it's effect.

Islamist is another word for extremist and extremists are of poor character who would get involved with crimimal or violent acts.

I am glad they printed that article with this wording, first western outlet to go against PDM.

 

[PradoTLC]

these guys supported Taliban TTP and OBL

 

[ProudThamizhan]

The politically correct movement used the term islamist terrorist as code for jihadi terror. They made the distiction between islamiC (not jihadi terrorist) and islamiST (jihadi terrorist),

It is so odd to see that term being used in this context ! did you mean to do that? Why?

 

[Indos]

The politically correct movement used the term islamist terrorist as code for jihadi terror. They made the distiction between islamiC (not jihadi terrorist) and islamiST (jihadi terrorist),

It is so odd to see that term being used in this context ! did you mean to do that? Why?

LOL Islamist is not negative word.

Jihadi Terrorist is called as Radical/Extremist group within Islamist group

The same like Hindu/Jews Terorist among hard line Hindu/Jews, etc

 

[ProudThamizhan]

LOL Islamist is not negative word.

Jihadi Terrorist is called as Radical/Extremist group within Islamist group

The same like Hindu/Jews Terorist among hard line Hindu/Jews, etc

but it has acquired a negative connotation.
I have seen a CNN discussion long time ago where they discussed how not to offend non-violent muslims while at the same time not be called cowards for not calling them what they are. Muslim terrorists was another term they considered and then zoned in on Islamist vs Islamic.

 

[jamahir]

Hundreds of radical Islamists with close ties to the ruling government in Pakistan attacked the Supreme Court after judges intervened to free the former prime minister Imran Khan.

Donning mustard uniforms and wielding sticks, the protesters scaled the entrance of the Red Zone in Islamabad, where the court is located, to demonstrate after Mr Khan’s arrest last week was deemed illegal.

Do you forget that IK target this grup when he was in power?

As far as I know there is one Islamist party/goup that is banned during IK rule

So there is already beef between them

Islamist is another word for extremist and extremists are of poor character who would get involved with crimimal or violent acts.

I am glad they printed that article with this wording, first western outlet to go against PDM.

these guys supported Taliban TTP and OBL

1. Let us not call mullahs - priests - as Islamists because priesthood is effectively abolished in True Islam. These Deobandi crooks were agents of the British colonial government of India then and are agents of NATO now.

2. Are there students of Musharraf to handle these mullahs ?

The politically correct movement used the term islamist terrorist as code for jihadi terror. They made the distiction between islamiC (not jihadi terrorist) and islamiST (jihadi terrorist),

It is so odd to see that term being used in this context ! did you mean to do that? Why?

but it has acquired a negative connotation.
I have seen a CNN discussion long time ago where they discussed how not to offend non-violent muslims while at the same time not be called cowards for not calling them what they are. Muslim terrorists was another term they considered and then zoned in on Islamist vs Islamic.

But who started that negative connotation ? I used to listen to BBC World Service Radio and I believe it is the BBC that started using that word first. Funnily, those psychopaths BBC declared as Islamists were the ones created by the British government and other Western governments against Communism and Socialism among Muslims.

"Islamist" should be on the banned words list on this forum in context of use for groups like Tableeghi Jamaat, Al Qaeda, Jamaat-this-and-that, "Muslim" Brotherhood, Owaisi's gang, Hamas, FSA etc.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

These folks are not radical Islamists- they are sarkari Islamists.

Regards

 

[PakFactor]

Islamist is another word for extremist and extremists are of poor character who would get involved with crimimal or violent acts.

I am glad they printed that article with this wording, first western outlet to go against PDM.

It wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last; when he declared this Darna that same day, I said headlines were coming out.

It's killed the image of the country.

@The Eagle

 

[Indos]

but it has acquired a negative connotation.
I have seen a CNN discussion long time ago where they discussed how not to offend non-violent muslims while at the same time not be called cowards for not calling them what they are. Muslim terrorists was another term they considered and then zoned in on Islamist vs Islamic.

We dont need to follow the Western or Non Muslim interpretation on the word Islamist.

We should stict to our own.