Imran Khan. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
A court docket in Islamabad on March 6 reserved its verdict on a petition filed by Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan in opposition to the suspension of his non-bailable warrant within the Toshakhana case.
Mr. Khan’s legal professionals Ali Bukhari, Qaiser Imam, and Gohar Ali Khan appeared earlier than the district and classes court docket, the place Bukhari contended that his shopper has at all times adopted court docket orders.
Imam argued that the Islamabad police couldn’t arrest 70-year-old Khan if he was prepared to seem earlier than the court docket on March 7. At this, the decide remarked that the PTI chief might have approached the Islamabad High Court to droop the warrant.
However, Imam instructed the decide that they needed the classes court docket to droop the warrant whereas 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,” stated Mr. Bukhari.
Urging the court docket to droop the warrant, Imam argued {that a} personal grievance was registered in opposition to the PTI chief beneath the Election Act 2017 and normally arrest warrants weren’t issued on a non-public grievance.
The decide, remarking that the PTI chief’s lawyer had knowledgeable him that their shopper wouldn’t seem in court docket, reserved the decision on the petition.
On February 28, Additional Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal issued a non-bailable arrest warrant in opposition to the cricketer-turned-politician for repeatedly failing to seem earlier than the court docket within the Toshakhana case.
Mr. Khan has been within the crosshairs for getting presents, together with an costly Graff wristwatch he had acquired because the premier at a reduced worth from the state depository known as Toshakhana, and promoting them for revenue.
In his property declarations, he’s accused of concealing particulars of the presents he retained from the Toshakhana — a repository the place presents handed to authorities officers from overseas officers are saved.
Officials are legally allowed to retain presents supplied they pay a pre-assessed quantity, sometimes a fraction of the worth of the present.
The PTI chief approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Sunday for post-arrest bail after an Islamabad police workforce arrived at his Zaman Park residence to arrest him for skipping proceedings within the Toshakhana case. However, the police workforce returned empty-handed after Mr. Khan evaded the arrest.
However, the Dawn newspaper in a report stated the LHC registrar had raised objections to Mr. Khan’s plea, saying that full paperwork had not been submitted together with the petitions.
Mr. Khan has not attended any hearings since November final yr when he was injured in an assassination try at his rally within the Wazirabad space of Punjab. Mr. Khan was granted interim bail by a particular court docket in Islamabad after being shot throughout the assassination try. He has since acquired extensions on his bail on account of medical causes.
Mr. Khan was ousted from energy in April after dropping a no-confidence vote in his management, which he alleged was a part of a U.S.-led conspiracy focusing on him due to his unbiased overseas coverage selections on Russia, China, and Afghanistan.
The PTI chief, who got here to energy in 2018, is the one Pakistani Prime Minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.
Source: www.thehindu.com
