The operation in Lahore could lead to more violence in the nuclear-armed country struggling with political and economic instability.
Tensions are high in the Pakistani city of Lahore, where police plan to search the home of former Prime Minister Imran Khan for suspects who attacked government and military installations last week.
Amir Mir, the information minister of the Punjab province, told Al Jazeera on Friday that warrants have been issued to search Khan’s house in the Zaman Park area of the provincial capital, Lahore.
“In an hour or so, the Commissioner [of police] in Lahore will meet him and then depending on what Imran Khan says, the police will act,” he said.
“If matters are not resolved, we will hold another meeting at 7 p.m. to determine our next strategy and line of action.”
Mir gave Khan a 24-hour deadline on Wednesday to hand over the suspects. On Friday, he told Reuters news agency that hundreds of police officers would conduct the search.
“We have information that there are about 40 terrorists hiding there, so I think we will need about 400 police officers to search the house,” he told Reuters news agency.
In a tweet on Friday, Khan said the “unprecedented crackdown” against his Pakistani party Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its supporters was carried out under a “reign of terror”.
The mindset behind this unprecedented crackdown and the current reign of terror that PTI and its supporters are being subjected to (not even witnessed during the martial law of Zia and Musharraf) is that we Pakistanis are like a herd of sheep that can be terrorized enough to meekly …
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) May 19, 2023
The search of Khan’s home could lead to more violence as the South Asian country grapples with political and economic instability.
In March, the Zaman Park area was the scene of battles between the 70-year-old former cricketer’s supporters and police who had tried to arrest him for failing to show up for court.
Khan was eventually arrested on May 9 on corruption charges, which he denies, and was later released on bail that expires later this month.
His arrest sparked a wave of violence with supporters attacking military installations and other government buildings. The clashes came as the country of 220 million faced its worst economic crisis ever, with critical IMF funding needed to stave off a balance of payments crisis that was months away.
On Wednesday, the Punjab government asked Khan to hand over supporters it blamed for the attacks on the powerful army, who say they are hiding in his house.
Khan has denied harboring anyone involved in the violence. On Thursday, his assistant Iftikhar Durrani allowed journalists into some parts of Khan’s home in Lahore to “look for terrorists”.