Imran in the dock as court rejects his plea for annulling arrest warrants in Toshakhana case
Pakistan
Warrants issued over multiple non-appearances before court
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – A sessions court on Monday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan's plea seeking annulment of the non-bailable arrest warrants issued against him for his failure to appear before the court in the Toshakhana case.
The court had, hours earlier, reserved the verdict on the plea filed by Mr Khan’s lawyers Qaisar Imam, Barrister Gohar and Ali Bukhari.
Mr Imam had demanded the annulment of the warrants, arguing that the law barred the issuance of arrest warrants to some extent if the plea was filed as a private complaint. Additional Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal remarked that Mr Khan's lawyers had apprised the court the day the warrants were issued that their client would not appear before the court.
Imran Khan is supposed to be present in court on Tuesday. The judge had, earlier, issued arrest warrants for Mr Khan after he failed to appear before the court despite multiple orders directing him to appear to penalise him.
The capital police subsequently reached Mr Khan’s residence in Zaman Park on Sunday but he reportedly “dodged” them. A few hours later, Mr Khan, while addressing the party workers, demanded a public hearing of the case.
Earlier, the PTI approached the Supreme Court for the appearance of the PTI chief in the judicial proceedings via video link.
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The letter, written to the apex court, mentioned that there were security lapses in the PTI chief's recent appearance in the Islamabad High Court and that the cases against him were a plot to make him vulnerable to an attack. Hence, it was pleaded to allow the appearance via video link in courts.
On the other hand, the Lahore High Court (LHC) registrar's office, earlier, raised an objection to petitions filed by Mr Khan, seeking protective bail in two cases registered at the Ramna police station in Islamabad.
The registrar said the copies of the protective bails secured by PTI leaders Mian Aslam Iqbal and Farrukh Habib in the same cases were not attached to the petitions filed by Mr Khan who faces arrest after a court in Islamabad issued his non-bailable arrest warrants for no-show in cases.
