ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad court on Thursday suspended the non-bailable arrest warrant of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan in the judge-threatening case, until tomorrow (Friday).
Judicial Magistrate Malik Aman, had on Wednesday issued the arrest warrant, however, the court provided relief to the former prime minister for a day. It should be noted that the charges against the PTI chief relate to a speech by Imran Khan in which he allegedly threatened the police and a female judge in 2022 after one of his close aides, Shahbaz Gill, was denied bail in a sedition case.
The cricketer-turned-politician has been facing a barrage of criminal cases since his ouster in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 by a united opposition led by his successor, Shehbaz Sharif. A convicted person is liable to be disqualified for at least five years under the country’s laws.
Imran Khan’s lawyers Faisal Chaudhry and Ali Bukhari appeared before Additional Sessions Judge Sikandar Khan during the hearing at the district and sessions court here. Presenting the arguments, Chaudhry said that the judicial magistrate’s decision to issue non-bailable arrest warrants was “illegal” as he had ignored some points of the detailed order of the additional district and sessions court.
Meanwhile, Bukhari maintained that a non-bailable warrant could not be issued as a bailable warrant was supposed to be issued first. He also read out the order of suspension of the former prime minister’s arrest warrant issued in the Toshakhana case.
“PTI chief’s appearance in courts risky”
He also reiterated the security threats to Imran Khan, saying that his appearance in courts was risky as an assassination bid had already been made on the PTI chief and the government had also withdrawn his security. Bukhari further stated that Imran Khan wasn’t demanding to be discharged from the case but that a legal procedure should be adopted. At this, the court suspended the non-bailable arrest warrant until tomorrow (Friday) while issuing notices to the parties.
