Toshakhana case: Imran Khan again approaches IHC against arrest warrant
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Friday moved the Islamabad High Court challenging an order of a district and sessions court rejecting his petition seeking suspension of arrest warrant issued in the Toshakhana case.
The petition was filed today by Khawaja Haris on behalf of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader who is holed up at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore in defiance of the court order that had directed him to appear before it.
On Thursday, Additional District and Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal rejected the PTI chief’s plea seeking suspension of non-bailable arrest warrants for the PTI chief over his absence from the proceedings.
Khan had approached the local court after the IHC turned down his request and ordered him to seek relief from the court that had issued warrants.
In the fresh application, the former prime minister has requested the court to accept his undertaking given to the sessions court and assured it that he will appear in the court tomorrow.
He also urged the IHC to fix the plea today on an urgent basis.
"[...] non-bailable warrant of arrest has been issued by this court just for the appearance of the applicant. The applicant is ready and willing to appear before this court on the fixed date i.e. 18.03.2023 and he has given his undertaking in this regard," the petition reads.
"It is trite law that the purpose of issuance of a non-bailable warrant of arrest is to ensure attendance of the accused and the undertaking has fulfilled the purpose of the warrant. Arrest and detention of the applicant will serve no useful purpose and he will be humiliated just for nothing."
Background
The Islamabad court had announced to indict the former prime minister on February 28 in the case but his lawyer sought an exemption from personal appearance because he had to appear in other courts.
The court had deferred his indictment in the case multiple times.
When Imran Khan skipped the hearing, the court issued his non-bailable arrest warrant and directed the police to present him on March 7.
Khan, however, approached the IHC which suspended the warrants and ordered him to appear before the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Iqbal on March 13 but the PTI chairman again skipped the hearing after which warrant were re-issued.
The police were directed to arrest Imran Khan and present him before the court on March 18.
A police party was sent to Lahore to arrest Khan but the attempts to take him into custody led to violent clashes between the police and the PTI workers, leaving more than 60 personnel of the law enforcement agencies injured.
On Tuesday, Imran Khan filed a petition in the IHC challenging the re-issuance of the warrant, however, his plea was turned down and he was directed to approach the trial court.
On Thursday, PTI submitted an undertaking with the court of judge Zafar Iqbal but the plea was rejected.
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