Imran Khan was expecting an uneventful day in court when he travelled from Lahore to Islamabad to appear before the Islamabad High Court on May 9th. It was not to be. Thirteen months after he was ousted as prime minister in a vote of no confidence, Mr Khan was bundled off the court’s premises and into an armoured car by paramilitary personnel and deposited in the custody of the country’s anti-corruption authorities. Rather than contest early elections, which he has been demanding for months, the mercurial populist may have to watch general elections scheduled for later this year unfold from a jail cell—provided they are held at all.

       The stated reason for Mr Khan’s arrest is alleged corruption in connection with a land deal. (He denies the charges.) Yet the arrest appears to be related to his escalating quarrel with Pakistan’s armed forces. On May 6th Mr Khan claimed in a public rally that Major General Faisal Naseer, of the army’s intelligence arm, was plotting to murder him. Mr Khan had earlier blamed Shehbaz Sharif, who replaced him as prime minister, and other senior government and intelligence officials for a failed attempt on his life in November. He was shot in the leg.

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