Imran Khan, other PTI leaders booked over arson and vandalism by supporters during Azadi March

Ousted prime minister Imran Khan and other senior leaders of his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party were booked by police on Thursday in two separate cases of arson and vandalism. The charges were linked with the incidents of fire at multiple places by PTI supporters in Islamabad on Wednesday night during the ‘Azadi’ rally. In the first case, a First Information Report was registered for fire and vandalism on the Jinnah Avenue, while a second FIR was launched for arson and damage to property in the Express Chowk area of the city. Both the FIRs were registered on the complaint of police officials, but the second case clearly named Imran Khan and senior PTI leaders Asad Umar, Imran Ismail, Raja Khurram Nawaz, Ali Amin Gandapur and Ali Nawaz Awan among others. No arrest has been made so far but the cases will be used by the government to nab some of the leaders if Khan launches the second protest after six days as announced. Earlier in the day, a defiant Khan warned that he would return to the Pakistani capital with the entire nation if the “imported government” failed to announce fresh general elections within the six-day deadline, prompting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to retort back that his “dictation won’t work” and Parliament would decide the date for polls.