More trouble for former Pakistan PM Imran Khan, court junks his plea on arrest warrant

New Delhi, March 6

A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Monday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s plea for suspending the non-bailable arrest warrant issued against him in the Toshakhana case.

Toshakhana case

• Imran Khan accused of buying gifts he had received as PM at a discounted price from Toshakhana, and selling these for profit
• He had moved court against the arrest warrant issued on February 28 after he skipped several hearings in the case

TV channel off air over khan’s speech

ARY TV news channel was taken off air for broadcasting Khan’s address on Sunday

After a dramatic Sunday when the police could not find the former Pakistan PM at his home while his opponents alleged that he had fled to a neighbour’s house, Khan contended that a private complaint against him did not merit an arrest warrant.

On February 28, the same judge had set events in motion when he issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Khan for continuously failing to appear before the court in the Toshakhana case. He has been accused of buying at discounted price gifts that were given to him when he was the Prime Minister and deposited in the Toshakhana, the state’s repository. He then allegedly sold the gifts, including an expensive Graff wristwatch, for profit. In his assets declarations, he is accused of concealing details of the gifts he retained from the Toshakhana.

Khan’s supporters say the case is yet another example of the “extreme vendetta launched by a coalition of political parties that have sunk their ideological enmity to join hands to finish him as a political force”. Since his removal from power in April last year, Khan is said to have been charged in 70 cases, ranging from sedition to corruption. The Islamabad High Court has cleared him of charges of “terrorism”.

Khan has antagonised the federal government by not taking his sacking lying down and instead immediately launching countrywide protests to press for early elections. His party members have also pulled out of Parliament and dissolved two provincial assemblies his party controls. The Pakistan authorities have banned TV channels from broadcasting Khan’s speeches.