Islamabad: A district and sessions court in Islamabad upheld the non-bailable arrest warrants for former PM Imran Khan after rejecting his plea seeking the suspension of the court’s earlier order in a case of alleged corruption against him related to the purchase and sale of gifts from the Toshakhana (state depository).
Additional sessions judge Zafar Iqbal announced the verdict, reserved earlier in the day, after hearing arguments on an application filed by the PTI chief seeking the cancellation of his warrants. The same court had last week issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Imran after he decided not to turn up before the court while attending hearings of three other cases - prohibited funding, terrorism, and attempted murder - filed against him in other courts located in the same judicial complex.
On Sunday, police went to Imran’s Lahore home to arrest him but the PTI chief evaded arrest and later addressed his supporters, lashing out at the current coalition government for its incompetence and targeting former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for his ouster from office last year.
Imran has thrice skipped indictment hearings in an Islamabad sessions court in the case. Imran is accused of not sharing details of the gifts he retained from the Toshaskhana and proceeds from their reported sales. The Election Commission of Pakistan had concluded in October that Imran had made “incorrect declarations” regarding the gifts he had purchased from the Toshakhana and disqualified him for being “dishonest and corrupt”. ECP thenapproached court seeking proceedings against Imran under criminal law.