A court in Pakistan has issued an arrest warrant for former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a case involving state gifts and concealing his assets from the sale of the gifts.
The judge hearing the case in the Islamabad district court said Khan was repeatedly given the opportunity to appear in court but failed to do so. Judge Zafar Iqbal said that this was why the warrant being issued for his arrest on February 28 did not include the possibility of bail.
Khan's lawyer asked the court to postpone the hearing for five days because Khan was appearing in court in two other cases. Iqbal dismissed the request and questioned how it was possible for the leader of the Tehrik-e Insaf party (PTI) to be present at two other hearings, but not in his courtroom.
Fawad Chaudhry, a senior leader of the PTI, said Khan had gone from one court to another in “fake cases” as he attended the hearings amid tight security and thousands of supporters.
The hearings in the other courts ruled that Khan was immune from arrest on separate charges relating to allegations of terrorism, attempted murder against a rival politician, and graft. Interim bail was granted in each of the cases.
Khan’s lawyer, Ali Bukhari, said Khan would appear at the next hearing before Iqbal, but the lawyer for the Election Commission opposed any postponement.
The coalition government led by Khan's successor, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, filed the case against the former premier in August 2022, accusing him of not mentioning gifts and money while detailing assets received through the sale of the gifts received while in office.
The Election Commission in October disqualified Khan from the National Assembly for providing "false information" about his assets in the proceedings before Iqbal, known as the Tosha Khana case.
Tosha Khana refers to the place where leaders of the country, members of parliament, bureaucrats, and other high-ranking officials leave gifts received during foreign trips. According to Tosha Khana rules, officials must inform the Cabinet Division about gifts they receive.
Khan said that the accusations against him in the Tosha Khana case are "baseless" and have been made to seek "political revenge."
In his reply, he said that he had not given any wrong information and had revealed all the details.
Khan, whose seat in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, remains vacant, was ousted in April 2022 through a no-confidence vote. He has accused Sharif of conspiring with the United States to oust him from power. Washington has rejected the accusation, and Khan has never provided any evidence for his claim.
The former cricket star was shot in the leg during a protest rally on November 3 as he was leading a protest march on Islamabad to pressure the government for snap polls.
Khan told supporters at a rally on November 26 that he wanted to avoid “havoc” in the country and dropped his demands for an early election.