Court issues non bailable arrest warrant for Imran khan in Judge threatening case

ISLAMABAD: In a case filed against him for threatening a female judge, a local court in Islamabad issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Wednesday.

In announcing the reserved verdict, Judicial Magistrate Malik Aman denied Imran’s counsel’s request for relief from court appearance and issued orders requiring his presence in court on April 18.

The case against the former prime minister was filed with the federal capital’s Margalla police station on August 20, last year, following his remarks at a rally in F9 Park, where he warned Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry and police high-ups of dire consequences for their “biassed” attitude towards his party.

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He claimed that despite knowing that incarcerated party leader Shahbaz Gill was tortured, Judge Zeba refused to release him on bail.

While the Islamabad High Court (IHC) rescinded its show cause order against Imran and stated that it was satisfied with the apology and conduct of the PTI chairman, the case is still pending in a lower court in the federal capital.

Earlier in the hearing, prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi argued that the deposed premier should be summoned to the court for the next hearing.

Ali Gohar, Imran’s lawyer, argued that the PTI chief would appear in court on March 30 for the Toshakhana case and requested that the court set the same date for the next hearing in this case.

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He had asked the judge to keep the warrant suspended and stated that he would go to civil court to have the arrest deadline changed from March 29 to March 30.

The judge had maintained that this was a “unusual request” because the warrant specified March 29, but the barrister insisted on March 30.

The prosecutor had questioned if the plea meant that the court could not “dare” to issue an arrest warrant, adding that arguments to suspend the warrant should be made on merit.

He had furthered that the accused was a “blue-eyed boy” of the courts, but even he was “not favoured that much”.