Islamabad: A court today dismissed the petition of former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan seeking suspension of arrest warrant against him.
The Islamabad district and sessions court upheld the non-bailable arrest warrants while hearing his petition.
The non-bailable arrest warrants were issued last week against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief in connection to the Toshakhana case due to his absence in the case hearings.
The court last week issued non-bailable arrest warrants against the former prime minister after he decided to not appear before the court while attending the hearings of three other cases in other local courts which were nearby. There are cases lodged against Imran Khan accusing him of prohibiting funding, abetting terrorism and attempting murder.
Imran Khan sought cancellation of his warrants but additional sessions judge Zafar Iqbal announced the verdict reserved earlier in the day after hearing arguments on the application filed by Khan.
Imran Khan petitioned the Islamabad sessions court urging them to consider withdrawing the warrants, saying that it allowed him a “fair opportunity to appear and defend himself” in the case.
A police team was dispatched to Lahore to arrest Imran Khan but they returned empty handed after he evaded arrest.
The former prime minister faces allegations of hiding details of gifts he retained from Toshakhana in his assets declarations. Toshakhana, according to a report by the Dawn, is a repository where gifts handed to Pakistan government officials from foreign officials are kept.
Officials are permitted to keep these gifts provided they pay a pre-assessed amount which is typically a fraction of the value of the gift, the Dawn said.
