Threat hurled at judge: Court suspends non-bailable arrest warrant of PTI chief

ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court suspended the non-bailable arrest warrant of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan till Friday (today) in the judge-threatening case.

It was the second relief in the day given to the PTI chairman following the Toshakhana case, in which, the court gave exemption to him from physical attendance of the hearing for the day before adjourning the hearing till April 29.

Imran Khan’s lawyers, Faisal Chaudhry and Ali Bukhari appeared before Additional Sessions Judge Sikandar Khan when the court started the hearing.

In his arguments, Chaudhry said that the judicial magistrate’s decision to issue non-bailable arrest warrants was illegal, adding that the judicial magistrate had ignored some points of the detailed order of the additional sessions court judge.

He also read out the IHC’s written order with regard to the security threats to the life of Imran Khan and stated that the non-bailable arrest warrant was illegal.

Referring to the security threats to Khan, Chaudhry further stated that even the administration changed the court previously. “Therefore, Imran Khan’s non-bailable arrest warrant should be suspended,” he pleaded.

Bukhari, in his arguments, maintained that a non-bailable warrant could not be issued as a bailable warrant was supposed to be issued first. He also referred to the order of suspension of Imran Khan’s arrest warrant issued in the Toshakhana case.

He also stated that Imran Khan is facing security threats, adding that his appearance in court is risky as an assassination bid had been made on him and the government had also withdrawn his security.

He stated that the PTI chief was not demanding to be discharged from the case and he is seeking a legal procedure to be adopted.

After hearing the arguments, the court suspended the non-bailable arrest warrant till Friday (today) while issuing notices to the parties concerned.

Earlier on Wednesday, Judicial Magistrate Malik Aman issued the non-bailable arrest warrant for the PTI chief. Khan is facing charges related to his speech in which he allegedly threatened police and a female judge last year after one of his party leaders, Shahbaz Gill, was denied bail in a sedition case.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023