Pakistan court issues non-bailable arrest warrant against Imran Khan

A court in Pakistan on Monday issued a nonbailable arrest warrant against ousted prime minister Imran Khan for threatening a woman magistrate while addressing a public gathering here last yearSenior civil judge of Islamabads district and sessions court Rana Mujahid Rahim has instructed the police to arrest the former prime minister and present him before the court by March 29The case against Khan the chairman of the Pakistan TehreekeInsaf PTI party was registered in August last year over his remarks at a rally here in which he warned Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry and top police officials of dire consequences for their biased attitude towards his party He also blamed them for the treatment meted out to his aide Shehbaz Gill whom he alleged was subjected to torture in judicial custodyInitially Imran was booked under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code after the Islamabad High Court initiated contempt of court proceedings against the former premierIn September last year Khan appeared before the sessions judge to personally apologise to ChaudhryConsequently the Islamabad High Court removed terrorism charges against Khan However a similar case was filed against him after the FIR was registeredKhan the 70yearold former cricketerturnedpolitician has heavily criticised the state institutions after a botched attempt by police to arrest him from his residence in the Zaman Park area of Lahore on the weekendAlso read Shehbaz Sharif accuses Imran Khan of creating hurdles in IMF programmeThe police raid unfolded on March 5 after a court in Islamabad issued a nonbailable arrest warrant against Khan in the Toshakhana case Separately Judge Zafar Iqbal of the district and sessions court in Islamabad took up the Toshakhana case against Khan on MondayThe PTI chief 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 profitThe Islamabad court issued a nonbailable arrest warrant in the Toshakhana case against Khan last month for his repeated failure to appear before the courtAccording to Khan he was facing at least 80 different cases in various courts across PakistanKhan was ousted from power in April last year after losing a noconfidence vote in his leadership which he alleged was part of a USled conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia China and AfghanistanThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever