Former Pakistani Prime Minister Khan’s aide arrested for election critics

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Police arrest Fawad Chaudhry, a senior leader of Pakistan’s opposition Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and information minister in ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan’s former government. Chaudhry is accused of criticizing election officials Arif ALI

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An aide to former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested on Wednesday for criticizing election officials, police said, the latest case brought against the opposition as they try to force a snap election.

Fawad Chaudhry, who was information minister under Khan, was arrested in a pre-dawn raid on his home in the eastern city of Lahore.

Chaudhry is accused of “harassing and intimidating” election commission officials and their families in televised comments on Tuesday, according to a police report shared by his Pakistani party Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The charges, filed in the capital Islamabad, also say he is being held under sedition laws because he “attempted to obstruct the state’s electoral process”.

Khan’s populist PTI government was overthrown in a vote of no confidence in April 2022 after its coalition partners switched allegiances.

New elections are due no later than October as Pakistan is mired in political and economic uncertainty.

The PTI lobbies for early elections, organizes rallies, withdraws from parliament and dissolves the two provincial assemblies it controls in a bid to force the government’s hand.

Khan and other PTI leaders have been caught up in a slew of court cases, a common hurdle faced by opposition groups, which rights watchers say are orchestrated to keep them out of power.

The police report shared by PTI quotes Chaudhry describing the Election Commission of Pakistan as “clerks” signing orders from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government.

“If you’re so weak, better pack your bags and go home,” he said, according to police.

Chaudhry earlier told reporters, “We are advising the Election Commission, its members and their families that if the pattern of abuse against us continues, you will be required to repay.”

Pakistani politicians regularly exchange nasty personal remarks, invoking each other’s families in abusive speeches.

Khan, a former cricket star, was removed from his post as the economy shrank and he lost support from the military establishment, which is seen as Pakistan’s real power broker.

Khan was shot in the leg at a political rally in November and blamed the assassination attempt on an army officer and Sharif, without providing evidence.

The nation of more than 220 million people is in dire economic straits with runaway inflation, low foreign exchange reserves and stalled bailout talks with IMF lenders.

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