LAHORE:  A Pakistan court ordered police on Wednesday to suspend an operation to arrest former Prime Minister Imran Khan, bringing a halt to pitched battles in which police baton-charged supporters of the former cricketer and fired water cannon and tear gas.

Security forces withdrew from around his home in the eastern city of Lahore, easing political instability in the  nation which is struggling with an economic crisis and awaiting an International Monetary Fund bailout.

The operation to arrest Khan came after a lower court in the capital Islamabad issued a warrant against him for defying orders to present himself in court over charges that he unlawfully sold state gifts given to him by foreign dignitaries when he was prime minister from 2018 to 2022.

The list, which Reuters could not independently verify, also contained perfumes, diamond jewellery and dinner sets.

Khan has denied wrongdoing.

The legal proceedings against Khan began after he was ousted from office in a parliamentary vote early last year.

Since then, he has held nationwide protest rallies demanding a snap election, during one of which he was shot and wounded.

Current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has rejected Khan’s demands, saying the election will be held as scheduled later this year.

Political infighting is common in Pakistan, where no prime minister has yet fulfilled a full term and where the military has ruled for nearly half of the country’s history.