Days after the former premier and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan was arrested, another senior politician of this party Shah Mehmood Qureshi, was arrested by the police, the PTI claimed on Twitter.
Qureshi previosuly served as Foreign Minister of Pakistan.
According to the PTI, Qureshi was taken into custody by Islamabad police before being moved to an "undisclosed location" in the wee hours of Thursday.
In a clip posted by PTI on the microblogging platform, policemen dressed in plain clothes could be seen taking him away.
What's more, Fawad Chaudhry, the vice president of the opposition Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in Pakistan, was also arrested from outside the Supreme Court premises, Pakistani media reported on Wednesday.
The development comes after law enforcement agencies on Wednesday confirmed that eight people died and 300 left injured in the violence that broke out in multiple Pakistani cities following Khan's arrest.
The development comes after law enforcement agencies on Wednesday confirmed that eight people died and 300 left injured in the violence that broke out in multiple Pakistani cities following Khan's arrest.
Additionally, around 2,000 protesters have been detained after they engaged in bloody clashes with security agencies for the second day in a row after a local court granted eight-day custody of Khan to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a case related to the Al-Qadir Trust.
What is the Al-Qadir Trust Case Against Khan?
Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi are accused of obtaining hundreds of acres of land and billions of rupees from real estate magnate Malik Riaz's firm in bribes for legitimizing PKR 69 billion ($240/£190 million) that was handed back to the previous Pakistan government by the British authorities.
According to Pakistan's NAB, Khan and his associates, including his wife, Bushra Bibi, illegally adjusted the said amount sent by the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency (NCA) to the PTI government, leading to the loss of PKR 69 billion to the Pakistani exchequer.
To swindle this money, Khan, his wife, and associates purportedly set up a trust named Al-Qadir to oversee the establishment of 'Al-Qadir University' in Punjab's Jhelum district.
Also, Khan, Bushra Bibi, and his close aides are accused of receiving 458 kanal land in Sohawa in Jhelum district so that they could set up Al-Qadir University.
However, since the institute of higher learning came into being two years ago, the university has only had 100 students enrolled and has yet to be recognized by the provincial government of Punjab.
Army, Ruling Coalition Condemn Violence
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Army and alliance partners of the ruling coalition headed by Shehbaz Sharif have condemned the violence that has gripped the South Asian nation since Imran Khan's arrest.
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chief and former President Asif Ali Zardari, labeled the riots as "shameful" before slamming Imran Khan for allowing PTI workers to "take law into their hands".
"The acts of harming public property and spreading chaos will not be tolerated," Zardari added.
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb joined Zardari in condemning the violent attacks conducted by supporters of Imran Khan and his party members.
"The attack on the offices of Radio Pakistan and Associated Press of Pakistan news agency by PTI’s armed gangs was condemnable and deplorable," Aurangzeb said in a statement released by her office.
On the other hand, the media wing of Pakistan's all-powerful army, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), called the events following Khan's arrest a "black chapter" in the nation's history.
"Soon after (Khan's arrest), there were organised attacks on army properties and installations and anti-army slogans were raised," the army added.