Earlier, the court had rejected Imran Khan’s plea to suspend the non-bailable arrest warrant.
Islamabad:
Pakistan’s federal capital police have booked dozens of supporters, including former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and his close aide Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in three separate terrorism-related cases.
The Islamabad police registered four separate cases against PTI leaders, workers and supporters on various charges, including the Anti-Terrorism Act, and arrested over two dozen people.
The new cases come at a time when Imran Khan is already facing a non-bailable arrest warrant in the Toshakhana case.
In the FIR lodged at Bhara Kahu police station, Hamid Zaman Kiyani, Naseem Abbasi, Sheikh Liaquat and Chaudhary Tariq, along with 40 unidentified persons, have been booked for creating ruckus and 21(i) (aiding and abetting). Section 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 506 (criminal intimidation) Punishment for) and many more, Don pointed out.
Cases are registered in Bhara Kahu, Khanna and Tarnol police stations.
Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi have been held responsible for the action of PTI workers in the FIR lodged at Khanna and Bhara Kahu police stations. The complainants said that the PTI workers threatened the shopkeepers and forced them to close their shops. The FIR states that PTI workers declared that they were following the orders of Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Geo News reported that on Wednesday the Islamabad High Court rejected the PTI chairman’s plea to suspend the non-bailable arrest warrant issued in the Toshakhana case.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal announced the earlier reserved judgment, directing the authorities concerned to arrest the former prime minister and produce him before the court on March 18.
The situation at Khan’s Zaman Park residence on Wednesday morning seemed calm after the Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered a halt to police action till 10 am. But when the court resumed hearing on Thursday, it clarified that it has not restrained the police from executing the arrest warrant and asked PTI to resolve the ongoing issue, Geo News reported.
PTI workers and police clashed for nearly 24 hours as Zaman Park became a de facto battlefield, with law enforcement trying to break through supporters and arrest Khan, who was elected prime minister last April. Was voted in.
Scores of people, including police personnel and PTI workers, were injured in the process as law enforcers fired teargas and party supporters resorted to throwing Molotov cocktails.
Legal proceedings against Khan began after he was ousted from office in a parliamentary vote early last year. Since then, he has held nationwide protest rallies demanding mid-term elections, in one of which he was shot and injured.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)