Clashes in Pakistan between the police and supporters of Imran Khan.

Riot police used water cannons on Tuesday March 14 to repel supporters of the former Prime Minister who were trying to prevent police from arresting him at his home.

Imran Khan was overthrown in April 2022 in a no-confidence motion and has since faced a host of legal proceedings, as he remains wildly popular and hopes to return to power in parliamentary elections scheduled for October.

It is the second time this month that police have been dispatched from the capital Islamabad to his home in Lahore to execute a warrant for his arrest, after he evaded several court summonses, citing security reasons.

"We are just here to execute the arrest warrant and arrest him," Shehzad Nadeem, a senior Islamabad police official, told reporters outside Imran Khan's house.

The police were greeted at the home of the former head of government by at least 200 activists from his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, Pakistan Justice Movement), some of whom were brandishing sticks or throwing stones .

Police used water cannons to try to disperse the crowd and gain access to the building.

>> To read: For the ex-Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, "there is always a threat" on his life

"They think the Nation will fall asleep when Imran Khan goes to jail"

"The police came here to put me in jail," Imran Khan said, in a video recorded inside the house and posted on Twitter.

"They think the Nation will fall asleep when Imran Khan goes to jail."

My message to the nation to stand resolute and fight for Haqeeqi Azadi & rule of law.

pic.twitter.com/bgVuOjsmHG

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) March 14, 2023

PTI deputy leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters that his party wanted to remain "peaceful".

Imran Khan, 70, has been summoned to court to face charges that he failed to declare all diplomatic gifts received under his tenure and made money reselling some.

The first attempt to arrest the former cricket champion had failed because he was "reluctant to surrender", the police explained without further details.

Since his ousting, he has multiplied large rallies and political speeches, or even dissolved the two provincial assemblies controlled by his party, to try to obtain early elections, which the government refuses.

In November, he was shot and wounded during a political rally.

He attributed the assassination attempt to his successor, Shehbaz Sharif, and a senior army intelligence officer, without providing evidence for his allegations.

With AFP

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