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Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan arrived at his Lahore residence on Saturday after being freed on bail following days of legal drama and nationwide riots over his arrest on corruption charges.
Khan was swooped on by dozens of paramilitary troops and arrested during a routine court appearance on Tuesday, triggering violent clashes in several cities between his supporters and security forces.
“The head of the country’s largest party was abducted, kidnapped from the high court, and in front of the entire nation,” Khan told AFP from Islamabad High Court on Friday.
“They treated me like a terrorist, this had to have a reaction,” he said of the protests that followed.
Khan has repeatedly clashed with Pakistan’s powerful military since being booted from power, and told reporters after being granted bail that “one man, the army chief” was behind his arrest.
His detention came just hours after he was rebuked by the army for claiming it was involved in an assassination attempt against him last year.
Independent analysts say Khan was brought to power by the military before falling out with the generals.
After his arrest, thousands of protesters began setting fire to government buildings, blocked roads and damaged military installations in a country wracked by a spiralling economic crisis.
The Supreme Court on Thursday declared the arrest on court premises ahead of a bail hearing as unlawful.
Khan was kept in police protection overnight, before appearing at a heavily guarded Islamabad High Court which granted him two week’s bail and ordered that he could not be arrested before Monday in any other pending case.
The 70-year-old has become entangled in a slew of legal allegations -- a frequent hazard for opposition figures in Pakistan -- since he was ousted from power in April last year.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, the former cricket superstar reached his Lahore residence, where he was greeted by jubilant crowds of supporters who threw rose petals over his car.
