A court in Islamabad on March 6 reserved its verdict on a petition filed by Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan against the suspension of his non-bailable warrant in the Toshakhana case.
Mr. Khan’s lawyers Ali Bukhari, Qaiser Imam, and Gohar Ali Khan appeared before the district and sessions court, where Bukhari contended that his client has always followed court orders.
Imam argued that the Islamabad police could not arrest 70-year-old Khan if he was willing to appear before the court on March 7. At this, the judge remarked that the PTI chief could have approached the Islamabad High Court to suspend the warrant.
However, Imam told the judge that they wanted the sessions court to suspend the warrant while Mr. Bukhari added that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief was at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. “Imran Khan wants to know a way he can appear in court,” said Mr. Bukhari.
Urging the court to suspend the warrant, Imam argued that a private complaint was registered against the PTI chief under the Election Act 2017 and usually arrest warrants were not issued on a private complaint.
The judge, remarking that the PTI chief’s lawyer had informed him that their client would not appear in court, reserved the verdict on the petition.
On February 28, Additional Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the cricketer-turned-politician for continuously failing to appear before the court in the Toshakhana case.
Mr. 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.
In his assets declarations, he is accused of concealing details of the gifts he retained from the Toshakhana — a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept.
Officials are legally allowed to retain gifts provided they pay a pre-assessed amount, typically a fraction of the value of the gift.
The PTI chief approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Sunday for post-arrest bail after an Islamabad police team arrived at his Zaman Park residence to arrest him for skipping proceedings in the Toshakhana case. However, the police team returned empty-handed after Mr. Khan evaded the arrest.
However, the Dawn newspaper in a report said the LHC registrar had raised objections to Mr. Khan's plea, saying that complete documents had not been submitted along with the petitions.
Mr. Khan has not attended any hearings since November last year when he was injured in an assassination attempt at his rally in the Wazirabad area of Punjab. Mr. Khan was granted interim bail by a special court in Islamabad after being shot during the assassination attempt. He has since received extensions on his bail due to medical reasons.
Mr. Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a U.S.-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China, and Afghanistan.
The PTI chief, who came to power in 2018, is the only Pakistani Prime Minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.
