Sawt Falasteen - Pakistan police halt bid to arrest ex-PM Khan after clashes

AFP correspondents and witnesses near Khan's home in the plush Zaman Park suburb of Lahore said police and paramilitary rangers had retreated after abandoning a series of roadblocks and checkpoints.

"The police and rangers sent to harm Imran Khan were pushed back by the people," his official Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party tweeted, along with video of supporters celebrating outside his house.

"More people are coming to Zaman Park and will never let the evil intentions of this imported government succeed, God willing."

Police had fought pitched battles with Khan's supporters throughout the night, firing fusillades of teargas and dodging rocks thrown by angry crowds.

Groups of police were seen running in disarray from the direction of the house Wednesday afternoon.

Khan was ousted from office by a no-confidence vote last year, and has been snarled in dozens of legal cases as he campaigns for early elections and a return to office.

Official PTI social media accounts showed video of Khan greeting dozens of people inside his garden, and jubilant supporters celebrating outside.

Police insist they have a warrant to arrest Khan following his failure to appear before an Islamabad court on graft charges, but the former premier and his lawyers say he has been granted bail on the charge.

"The PTI leader does not have protective bail for this particular case," Muhammad Taqi Jawad, spokesman for Islamabad police, told AFP.

He said the arrest warrant would stand and denied police had retreated, adding: "Our actions will strictly adhere to the law, and we are committed to fulfilling our duty."

Earlier Khan issued a video sitting in front of Pakistan and PTI flags at a desk decorated with spent teargas canisters.

"They will teargas our people and do other such things, but you should know that they have no justification to do so," he said.

- Residence ringed -

On Wednesday morning hundreds of PTI supporters had ringed Khan's residence in the plush neighbourhood, holding off fresh attempts by police to storm the premises.

Video circulating on social media -- much distributed by official PTI accounts -- showed several bloodied supporters and others struggling to cope with tear gas.

A PTI official tweeted that there was "an urgent need" for first aid kits at the Zaman Park neighbourhood.

"The way the police attack our people, there is no precedent for this," Khan said.

"Water cannons, teargas... they shelled inside the house (grounds) where there were servants and women."

Khan later tweeted pictures of bullet casings purportedly collected from the scene, but a Punjab government official denied live rounds were fired.

"Clearly 'arrest' claim was mere drama because real intent is to abduct & assassinate," Khan tweeted.

The Islamabad High Court was meeting Wednesday to hear a fresh petition from PTI to prevent Khan's arrest, which could defuse the situation.

Khan, 70, has been summoned to court to answer accusations he did not declare gifts received during his time as prime minister, or the profit made from selling them.

Officers first made an attempt to arrest him earlier this month, but said the politician was "reluctant to surrender", without offering further details.

Khan has been pressuring the coalition government that replaced him, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, with popular rallies and daily addresses.

Sharif said on Wednesday that Khan considered himself "above the law".

"He is defying each and every court of the country. It’s naked defiance," he told reporters.

Last year the former international cricket star was shot in the leg during a political rally, an assassination bid he blamed on Sharif.

As the political drama unfolds ahead of an election due by October, Pakistan is in the grip of a stark economic downturn, risking default if help cannot be secured from the International Monetary Fund.

The security situation is also deteriorating with a spate of deadly attacks on police headquarters, linked to the Pakistani Taliban.

"On one side, it is failure of police and the law enforcement agencies... on the other, this has been a new trend in the South Asian politics -- that a political leader is defying the arrest by using his workers and supporters."

X.Habash--SF-PST