edited by: Shankhneel Sarkar
Last Update: March 06, 2023, 16:10 IST
Former Pak PM Imran Khan is accused of misrepresenting gifts kept from Toshakhana in his asset declarations (Image: Reuters)
An Islamabad court has reserved judgment on Imran Khan’s plea seeking suspension of his arrest warrant
The District and Sessions Court of Islamabad on Monday upheld the non-bailable arrest warrant against former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Last week, a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief in the Toshakhana case because of his absence during the hearing of the case.
The court had last week issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the former prime minister after he chose not to appear in the court while attending the hearing of three other cases in other local courts nearby. Cases are registered against Imran Khan alleging withholding of funding, promoting terrorism and attempt to murder.
Imran Khan sought quashing of his warrant, but Additional Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal reserved the judgment later in the day after hearing arguments on the application filed by Khan.
Imran Khan petitioned the Islamabad sessions court urging him to consider withdrawing the warrant, saying it gave him a “fair opportunity to appear and defend himself” in the case.
A police team was sent to Lahore to arrest Imran Khan, but they returned empty-handed after evading arrest.
The former prime minister has been accused of suppressing details of gifts kept from Toshakhana in his asset declaration. According to a Dawn report, Toshakhana is a repository where gifts given by foreign officials to Pakistan government officials are kept.
Dawn said officials are allowed to keep these gifts provided they pay a pre-determined amount which is usually a fraction of the value of the gift.
During the hearing, Imran Khan’s legal team said that their client wanted to be given “a way to appear before the court”, to which the judge said that if the legal team wanted, it would ask the Islamabad High Court to cancel the arrest warrant. Could knock on the door.
Imran Khan has approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) for bail in three separate cases related to the vandalism at Toshakhana, Islamabad Judicial Complex and violence outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC), but the applications are incomplete, Pakistan-based news outlets reported. The LHC registrar objected to the pleas because of the documents.
The Toshakhana reference was filed by MPs from the ruling coalition in 2022 and in October 2022 the Election Commission of Pakistan concluded that Imran Khan had made “false statements and false declarations” regarding the gifts.
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