A Pakistani special court has jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan for eight days pending investigation after he was arrested on Tuesday on corruption charges.

Some local media, citing unnamed sources, reported that prosecutors had requested that Khan be held in pretrial detention for 14 days.

Khan's lawyers said the country's main anti-corruption body, or National Accountability Office, which ordered Khan's arrest, had asked the judge to place him in pre-trial detention for at least 10 days.

Insaf lawyer Sher Afzal Marwat, told the media that Khan was in "good spirits" but complained that he had been beaten on the back of the head and leg by paramilitaries who stopped him.

The arrest of Khan, a former international cricketer who served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, is part of a protracted political crisis in Pakistan, with dozens of judicial investigations targeting Khan, 70, since his ouster in 2022.

Deteriorating relationship with the military

Khan's arrest comes a day after the military criticised Khan and warned him against making "baseless allegations" after he last weekend in Lahore accused senior intelligence officer General Faisal Naseer of involvement in an assassination attempt on him last November, during which the former prime minister was shot in the leg. He has also previously accused the former commander of the armed forces of causing his removal from office.

Khan says his removal from office was an "illegal measure and a Western conspiracy" and has accused the United States of involvement in his removal from power, which Washington vehemently denies.

The military initially backed his rise to power in 2018, then withdrew its support, and Khan was removed from power in a vote of no confidence in his government in parliament in April 2022.

Khan is the only prime minister in the country to have been ousted by a vote of no confidence in Pakistan's history.

Since the country's founding in 1947, many Pakistani politicians have been arrested and imprisoned, no prime minister has yet served his full term and the military has held power for nearly half of the country's history.

The case leading to his arrest was brought by the country's main anti-corruption body, the National Accountability Office, which said he ignored repeated summonses to appear in court.

The case in which Khan is accused of graft is one of more than 100 cases brought against him since he was ousted from power last year. In his tenure he had spent 4 out of 5 years.

Most cases could prevent Khan from holding public office if convicted, and a general election is scheduled for November.

3 people killed and more than a thousand arrested in clashes between Imran Khan's supporters and police (Reuters)

Dead and detained

After Khan's arrest yesterday, violent protests erupted in several parts of the country, with demonstrators breaking into the home of the military commander of Lahor (east) and blocking the entrance gates to the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. Police used tear gas and water cannons against protesters in Karachi (south) and Lahore.

Authorities ordered schools closed across the country and kept access to social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook restricted.

Health officials confirmed that at least 3 people were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bringing the death toll to six in two days.

Police officials said more than 1200,<> demonstrators were arrested during the protests, which have continued in many parts of the country.

In a statement to the media, officials said 130 officers and officials were injured in the violence that erupted after Khan's arrest on Tuesday.

Protesters blocked some roads leading to Islamabad on Wednesday afternoon, but there was a heavy security presence throughout the capital, especially in the area where the court was held.

The Pakistani government has agreed to deploy troops to Punjab province to help contain the violent protests, according to an official order from the Home Office.

The movement's deputy chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi called on his supporters to continue protesting "in a lawful and peaceful manner", adding that the party's lawyers would file an appeal and petitions against Imran Khan's arrest.