Imran Khan. File | Photo credit: Reuters
An Islamabad court had on March 6 reserved judgment on a petition filed by former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan against the suspension of his sentence. Non-bailable warrant in Toshakhana case.
Mr. Khan’s lawyers Ali Bukhari, Qaiser Imam, and Gauhar Ali Khan appeared in the District and Sessions Court, where Bukhari argued that his client had always followed court orders.
Imam argued that Islamabad police could not arrest 70-year-old Khan if he wanted to appear in court on March 7.
However, Imam told the judge that he 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 if he can appear in court,” Mr Bukhari said.
Requesting the court to suspend the warrant, Imam argued that a private complaint was filed against the PTI chief under the Election Act 2017 and usually arrest warrants are not issued on private complaints.
The judge, while remarking that the PTI chief’s lawyer had told him that his client would not appear in court, reserved judgment on the plea.
On February 28, Additional Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the cricketer-turned-politician for his continued non-appearance in court. Tosha Khana case.
Mr Khan is in the process of buying souvenirs, including an expensive Graff wristwatch he got as a premier at a discounted price from a government depository called Tosha Khana, and selling them for a profit.
In his asset declarations, he is accused of concealing details of gifts he received from the Tosha Khana – a repository where gifts given to government officials by foreign officials are kept.
Officials are legally allowed to keep gifts provided they pay a predetermined amount, usually a fraction of the value of the gift.
The PTI chief approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) for post-arrest bail on Sunday after an Islamabad police team sought to arrest him to avoid action in the Tosha Khana case. Park reached the residence. However, after Mr. Khan evaded arrest, the police team returned empty-handed.
However, K Don’s The newspaper said in a report that the registrar of the Lahore High Court raised objections to Mr. Khan’s application saying that complete documents were not submitted with the applications.
Mr Khan has not attended any hearing since November last year. Injured in a murderous attack at his rally in Wazirabad Mr. Khan was granted interim bail by a special court in Islamabad. Shot during an assassination attempt.. His warranty has since been extended due to medical reasons.
Khan was ousted from power. After losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership in April, which he alleged was part of a plot by the US leadership to target 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 have been ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament.
