Court Restores Imran Khan's Arrest Warrants In Toshakhana Case

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Mar, 2023 ) :An Additional Session Court on Monday restored non-bailable arrest warrants against PTI's Chairman Imran Khan in toshakhana case and directed the police to produce him after arresting on March 18.

The court restored the arrest warrants after Imran Khan again failed to appear before it following the orders of Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Additional Session Judge Zafar Iqbal announced the verdict which was earlier reserved after hearing arguments. Imran Khan's Lawyer Khwaja Haris submitted two application challenging the maintainability of the complaint and seeking one-time exemption from appearance to his client.

During the hearing, ECP's counsel Saad Hassan said that the high court had suspended the arrest warrants till this date and instructed the accused to appear before the court.

He said that he was not requesting court to issue fresh arrest warrants against Imran Khan as it were already in place.

He said that the session court had to view the implementation of the arrest warrants issued by it.

The defence had been filing various applications to delay the court proceeding, he argued, adding that Imran Khan was exploiting his relief.

Saad Hassan said that the case would remain maintainable until the court took a decision on it.

How the accused could get exemption from appearance when his arrest warrants had been issued, he argued.

He said district election commissioner was authorized to file the criminal complaint.

The petitioner's lawyer said that he needed some time for arguments on maintainability of the case.

Imran Khan's counsel Khwaja Haris opposed the indictment of former prime minister Imran Khan and prayed the court to dismiss the complaint of District Election Commissioner while declaring the same a non-maintainable.

The lawyer said that Imran Khan was not skipping his attendances deliberately, adding that he was facing security threats. He also prayed the court to grant his client one-time exemption from appearance.

He said that the complaint was filed by the district election commissioner instead of the ECP, adding that the petitioner required an approval from the ECP for this.

Khwaja Haris said that criminal complaint regarding the corruption could be filed within 120 days as per law but it was moved after three years.

He said trial should be proceeded as per the law.

Haris said that they had also filed application to mark the attendance of Imran Khan through the video link.

After hearing arguments, the court reserved the judgment and later restored the arrest warrants against Imran Khan while rejecting the his exemption request.

It may be mentioned here that the session court had summoned Imran Khan on March 13, after the high court suspended his arrest warrants.

The district election commissioner had lodged a complaint against Imran Khan for hiding information about toshakhan gifts from the ECP.