ISLAMABAD: A local court, on Thursday, retained bailable arrest warrants for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former premier Imran Khan in judge threatening case.

Judicial Magistrate Malik Aman, while hearing the case retained bailable warrant earlier issued for Khan.

The court adjourned the hearing of the case till June 8 and issued directives that the arrest warrants be complied with in a legal way.

The court observed that the bailable arrest warrant issued for Khan did not comply legally.

Mirza Asim, the associate of Salman Safdar, counsel for Imran Khan and junior counsel of prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abasi appeared before the court.

At the start of the hearing, the prosecutor said that the court had summoned the PTI chief. Abbasi told the court to issue the PTI chief a non-bailable arrest warrant as bailable ones have already been issued.

Khan’s counsel told the court his lead counsel Salman Safdar is coming from Lahore and will reach at 12pm. The court then took a short break till the arrival of Imran Khan’s lawyer.

After the resumption of the hearing following the break, Khan’s counsels, Barrister Gohar Khan and Ali Bukhari appeared before the court. Khan’s counsel filed an application seeking an exemption for his client for personal appearance before it. They told the court his client is facing a life threat due to which he could not appear before in district court.

The court, after hearing the arguments of both parties, reserved its judgment.

The court, while announcing its reserved judgment, retained Khan’s bailable arrest warrants till June 8.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023