On Tuesday, a Pakistani court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against former Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case. The Additional Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal adjourned the hearing till March 7 due to Khan’s repeated failure to appear before the court. Despite this, Khan was granted bail in two other cases by the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) and the Banking Court in the prohibited funding case.
Hundreds of Khan’s supporters gathered outside the court premises in Islamabad to show their support for their leader. Khan had travelled from his residence in Lahore to appear in the three cases. The former cricketer-turned-politician is facing charges of buying gifts, including an expensive Graff wristwatch, from the state depository Toshakhana at a discounted price and then selling them for profit.
The Islamabad Police had also registered a terrorism case against Khan and other senior PTI leaders for allegedly vandalizing state property in response to the Toshakhana case. In October last year, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) filed a case in an Islamabad-based banking court against Khan and other PTI leaders over allegedly receiving prohibited funding. The Election Commission of Pakistan found the party guilty of concealing the money and disqualified Khan.
The prohibited funding case was filed by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar in the ECP in 2014. Khan has not attended any hearings since November last year when he was injured in an assassination attempt at his rally in Wazirabad, Punjab. He was granted interim bail by a special court in Islamabad after being shot during the assassination attempt and has since received extensions on his bail due to medical reasons.
Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China, and Afghanistan. He is the only Pakistani Prime Minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.