As stand-off continues, Imran Khan decries arrest attempt; several injured as protests spread across Pakistan

The stand-off between supporters of former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and the Pakistan's police who arrived outside his Lahore home to arrest him continues today. A heavy contingent of police surrounded the residence as Islamabad Police intended to arrest him in the Toshakhana case.

Earlier on Tuesday, the police operation triggered clashes between Khan's supporters and police in the Pakistan's major cities. Police fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse Khan's supporters, who reportedly hurled stones at policemen, resulting in injuries.

In an interview with Al Jazeera amid the showdown between PTI supporters and the police over his likely arrest in the Toshakhana case, the PTI chief said, " I'm mentally prepared.''

Imran Khan had earlier asked his supporters to 'come out' for real freedom and continue the struggle even if he is killed or arrested, amid clashes between the police and his party workers who gathered outside his residence here to foil his arrest.

Khan's video message was released by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on social media as police arrived at his Zaman Park residence to arrest him in the Toshakhana case.

In the video message, Khan urged his supporters to "come out for real freedom" as police arrived to arrest him. "They think that after my arrest, the nation will fall asleep. You have to prove them wrong," 70-year-old Khan said in the video.

"God has given me everything, and I am fighting this battle for you. I have been fighting this battle all my life, and I will continue to do so," he said. "If something happens to me and I am sent to jail or if I am killed, you have to prove that you will struggle without Imran Khan and not accept the slavery of these thieves and of the one person who has been making decisions for the country," he said.

Soon after his speech, protests broke out in Islamabad, Peshawar, Karachi, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Vehari, Peshawar, Quetta, and Mianwali.

A senior police officer of Islamabad police said that his team has come to Lahore to arrest the PTI chief in the Toshakhana case.

Khan has been in the crosshairs for buying gifts, including an expensive Graff wristwatch he had received as the premier at a discounted price from the state depository called Toshakhana and selling them for profit.

TV footage showed police slowly approaching the Zaman Park residence of Khan behind an armoured vehicle that was dispersing his supporters with a water cannon.

Khan's supporters, who had covered their faces with pieces of cloth, pelted stones at policemen.

The Islamabad police said that five of its officials, including Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Shahzad Bukhari, who was leading the police team, had been injured after stones were pelted from the roof of Zaman Park. "Despite the pelting of stones, police refrained from taking extreme measures," Islamabad police said on Twitter.

Intermittent tear gas shelling is ongoing at Zaman Park as police is currently camped out at a security barrier outside the neighbourhood, Dawn newspaper reported. Khan's supporters, however, have laid siege to the path leading to his residence.

PTI's deputy leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi earlier said that the party leadership is ready to find out a "possible way out" to avert bloodshed. "Show me the warrant. I will first read and understand it. Then, I will speak to Imran Khan and my lawyers," he told the police.

"Our understanding is that the police can't arrest Imran Khan because he has secured a protective bail from a high court," aide Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters.

Meanwhile, Khan's party moved the Islamabad High Court against the arrest warrants issued in the Toshakhana case. Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq fixed the hearing for Wednesday while rejecting the party's request to conduct the hearing today.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, however, said that officials would arrest Khan in accordance with the court's directives and produce him in court.