Pakistan PM orders arrest of all culprits of recent violent protests in 72 hours

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered authorities on Saturday to identify and arrest all the culprits of the recent violent protests across the country within the next 72 hours.

“They will be given exemplary punishment […] and none of the planners, instigators and abettors would be given any concession,” he said during a visit to the Jinnah House in Lahore, local media reported.

"I have given law enforcement apparatus a target of 72 hours to arrest all those involved in facilitating, abetting and perpetrating the disgraceful incidents of arson, ransacking, sabotage and damaging public and private properties," Shahbaz said after chairing a meeting at the Punjab Safe City Authority Headquarters in Lahore, Geo News reported.

He said that all available resources, including technological aid and intelligence, are being deployed to chase down these elements.

"Bringing these people to justice is a test case for the government. Their cases will be tried by the anti-terrorism courts," he said, adding that such kind of terrorism is unacceptable, Geo News reported.

The premier maintained that Imran was fully responsible for the violence during the protests, alleging that he “planned and instigated it.”

He particularly condemned the “brutal attack” at the corps commander’s residence in Lahore, lamenting that the “attackers” did not even care that it was a historical building.

“There is no example of such enmity towards the country and brutality in the country’s history,” he said, pledging that the law would bring the perpetrators to justice.

Earlier the Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has vowed that the “gangs prepared by PTI chief Imran Khan” would not be forgiven.

“They will be identified […] and caught, and these gangsters would not be let go of.”

Imran departed the court premises late on Friday night and headed towards his hometown Lahore amidst high security, after a court granted him bail. His arrest in a land fraud case on Tuesday, which the Supreme Court ruled "invalid and unlawful" on Thursday, sparked violent protests by his supporters.

They stormed military establishments, set ablaze a state broadcaster building, smashed buses, ransacked a top army official's house and attacked other assets, leading to nearly 2,000 arrests and the army being deployed in multiple cities.

At least eight people were killed in the violence, a spasm of unrest in a country that is facing economic crisis, with record inflation, anaemic growth and delayed IMF funding.

Imran, who was expected to address his followers virtually later on Saturday, on Friday welcomed the court's bail order and said the judiciary was Pakistan's only protection against the "law of the jungle."

"I must say I expected this from our judiciary, because the only hope now left — the only thin line between a banana republic and a democracy is the judiciary," he told journalists inside the court premises.

Imran, 70, is a cricket star-turned-politician who was ousted as prime minister in April 2022 in a parliamentary no-confidence vote and who is Pakistan's most popular leader according to opinion polls.

Many cities in Pakistan saw violent protests following his arrest by the anti-graft agency. Khan denies any wrongdoing.

Facebook, YouTube and Twitter were inaccessible in Pakistan on Saturday after having been restored late on Friday, Reuters journalists said.

The Ministry of Interior had instructed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to suspend mobile broadband services across the country and blocked access to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter on Tuesday night

The services were available again on Friday night but on Saturday were again inaccessible, the journalists said.

Agencies