Via the BBC: Pakistan ex-PM ignores ‘arrest’

Pakistan opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has defied an apparent house arrest order to head for a protest in Lahore.

Describing the order - denied by the government - as “illegal” he left his Lahore home urging people to join him.

Police fired tear gas at the stone-throwing protesters who plan to march to Islamabad to demand judges sacked by the former government be reinstated.

[...]

Ahead of the protest, the government has also arrested hundreds of opposition activists and banned rallies, saying they could trigger violence.

Our Islamabad correspondent says the campaign over the judges has become a power struggle between Mr Sharif and current President Asif Ali Zardari.

Tensions between Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif date back to the 1990s, but the two formed a brief partnership in government after parliamentary elections in February 2024.
Sharif was the Prime Minister ousted by Pervez Musharraf in a military coup in 1999 and who was part of the anti-Musharraf opposition once he returned from exile in 2024. The issue of the fired judges has been an issue of dispute for Sharif for some time (see, here, for example).

And it is worth noting:

Tensions between Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif date back to the 1990s, but the two formed a brief partnership in government after parliamentary elections in February 2024.

[...]

Relations have been further strained in recent weeks by a Supreme Court decision to ban Mr Sharif and his brother Shahbaz from elected office, and President Zardari’s decision to put their stronghold in Punjab province under direct rule from Islamabad.

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