Islamabad Court Halts Arrest Warrant For Ex-Prime Minister Khan Until March 13 - Reports

NEW DELHI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th March, 2023) The Islamabad High Court has suspended until March 13 the non-bailable arrest warrant for former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, issued for failure to appear in court four times for a hearing in the case of the alleged illegal sale of state gifts, also known as the Toshakhana case, Pakistani media reported Tuesday.

Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq ordered Khan, now leader of Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf opposition party, to appear before the District and Sessions Court on March 13, rejecting a request by his lawyer to appoint a four-week period for appearance before the court, Pakistani broadcaster Geo tv reported.

Last week, a court in Islamabad issued an arrest warrant for the former prime minister for repeated failures to appear at hearings in the Toshakhana case. Last weekend, Pakistani police arrived at Khan's residence to arrest him, but the former prime minister managed to evade them.

Earlier in the day, Khan's party argued against the ruling of the District and Sessions court, which upheld the warrant for his arrest.

In October 2022, Pakistan's election commission stripped Khan of his parliamentary mandate as well as the right to be elected and appointed to both the country's Federal and regional legislatures for five years after it found him guilty of selling 52 valuables stored in Toshakhana, the Pakistani state treasury, and hiding information about gifts that he received personally. In April 2022, then-opposition leader, current Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that Khan had sold state treasures in Dubai with a total value of 140 million Pakistani rupees ($630,000 Dollars).