Non-bailable warrant against former Pak PM suspended
Islamabad: An Islamabad court on Tuesday suspended till March 16 a non-bailable arrest warrant against former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan for threatening a woman magistrate while addressing a public gathering here last year.
The Islamabad district and sessions court on Monday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Khan for using threatening language against Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry and the Islamabad police officials.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief subsequently challenged Monday’s order and Additional Sessions Judge Faizan Haider Gilani after hearing arguments suspended the arrest warrants till March 16 when the next hearing has been scheduled.
Khan’s counsel contended that “due to security threat to the life of petitioner, the petitioner could not appear before the learned trial court”.
Khan, the 70-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician, who has been recovering from a gunshot injury from an assassination attempt in Wazirabad last year, has skipped indictment hearings in these cases.
“Now to come up for arguments on March 16. In the meanwhile, operation of the impugned order is hereby suspended till the next date,” the court maintained.
Lawyers Naeem Panjotha and Intizar Panjotha appeared in court in Tuesday’s hearing, where Panjotha argued that all the sections invoked against the PTI chief were bailable to which the judge asked if non-bailable arrest warrants had been issued for Khan earlier as well. Before this, arrest warrants have not been issued in the case related to threatening the woman judge, the lawyer replied.
The court then directed Khan’s counsel to attach the documents submitted along with the petition.
“I have been reading these [documents] for the past 15 minutes but I can’t understand what they say,” Judge Gilani said.
At one point during the hearing, Panjotha contended that the PTI chief was the ex-prime minister and it was the government’s responsibility to provide him adequate security. “But instead, they have withdrawn his security.”
Here, the judge asked if PTI had a letter that proved that Khan’s security had been withdrawn.
“I can provide it to you by tomorrow,” the lawyer replied.
For his part, the government’s lawyer revealed that [arrest] warrants for Khan were also issued in the Toshakhana case.
Police on Tuesday fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse supporters of Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Imran Khan who gathered outside his residence here to prevent his arrest in the Toshakhana case.
TV footage showed police slowly approaching the Zaman Park residence of Khan behind an armoured vehicle that was dispersing his supporters with a water cannon.
A senior police officer of Islamabad police said that his team has come here to arrest the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman in the Toshakhana case.
Khan has been in the crosshairs for buying gifts, including an expensive Graff wristwatch he had received as the premier at a discounted price from the state depository called Toshakhana and selling them for profit.agencies
Clashes erupted between police and PTI workers when the former approached Khan’s residence to arrest him. His supporters, who had covered their faces with pieces of cloth, pelted stones at policemen resulting in injuries.
According to reports, Islamabad Deputy Inspector General (Operations) Shahzad Bukhari, who was leading the police team, was injured. He was seen walking with the help of two officials. Both Khan’s supporters and policemen were injured in the clashes.
In a video message, Khan urged his supporters to come out for real freedom as police had arrived to arrest him. “They think that after my arrest, the nation will fall asleep. You have to prove them wrong,” Khan said in the video.
