Pakistan court issues non-bailable warrant against Imran Khan

A Pakistani court on Tuesday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against former prime minister Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case but he was granted bail in three other cases, amid high drama outside the court premises where thousands of his supporters converged to support their leader.

Khan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, travelled from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore to Islamabad, his first appearance in the federal capital after being shot at a public rally in November last year.

The four cases include prohibited funding at a banking court located at the judicial complex in Islamabad, and a terrorism case at the anti-terrorism court in the same complex.

The third was related to the Toshakhana, which was scheduled at the sessions court in F-8 Kachehri, situated half-an-hour drive from the judicial complex.

The fourth case was an attempted to murder case at the same sessions court.

Additional sessions judge Zafar Iqbal issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the 70-year-old former prime minister in the Toshakhana case.

The court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Khan and adjourned the hearing till March 7 for his repeated failure to appear before the court.

His indictment, in this case, was earlier postponed twice due to his failure to appear in court.

Khan has been in the crosshairs for buying gifts, including an expensive Graff wristwatch he had received as the premier at a discounted price from the state depository called Toshakhana and selling them for profit.

The former cricketer-turned-politician was, however, granted bail in all the other three cases, even as thousands of his supporters thronged the judicial complex in his support, prompting security officials to beef up security.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in October last year filed a case in an Islamabad-based banking court against Khan and other PTI leaders over allegedly receiving prohibited funding.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last year found the party guilty of concealing that it had received the money and also disqualified Khan.

The prohibited funding case was filed by estranged PTI founding member Akbar S Babar in the ECP in 2014.

Khan has not attended any hearings since November last year when he was injured in an assassination attempt at his rally in the Wazirabad area of Punjab province.

He has since received extensions on his bail due to medical reasons.

Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China, and Afghanistan.

The PTI chief, who came to power in 2018, is the only Pakistani prime minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament.

Since his ouster, Khan has been clamouring for immediate elections to oust what he termed was an "imported government" led by prime minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Sharif has maintained that elections will be held later this year once parliament completes its five-year tenure.