Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan arrested from outside Islamabad High Court

Pakistan's former prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan was arrested outside the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday, according to Pakistani media reports.

PTI lawyer Faisal Chaudhry confirmed Khan's arrest. Vice President of Imran Khan's party Fawad Chaudhry informed in a tweet that Imran Khan was arrested by Pakistan Rangers.

The arrest comes just a day after Khan criticized the army and the ISI. Earlier, the military called his statements "irresponsible" and called the allegations "baseless". He said the Rangers "occupied the Islamabad High Court" and tortured lawyers.

He said, "Imran Khan's car was surrounded."

A report in media mentioned that Imran Khan was taken into custody from the courtroom where he had gone to seek bail in several FIRs lodged against him in different cases. In a statement, Islamabad Police informed that Imran Khan has been arrested in the Qadir Trust case. Section 144 is applicable in the entire area and any violation will be strictly dealt with, they added.

The Islamabad High Court took cognizance of the arrest and Chief Justice Ameer Farooq summoned the IG Islamabad and the ADG within 15 minutes to explain the reasons for the arrest to the court, according to Pakistani media reports. Meanwhile, Imran Khan's PTI party leader Azhar Mashwani claimed that the 70-year-old Khan was "kidnapped" from inside the Rangers court.

The party has called for immediate protests across the country, Mashwani said.