Pakistani court upholds arrest warrant for former prime minister

KARACHI, Pakistan

A Pakistani court on Wednesday upheld an arrest warrant for the former prime minister on Wednesday in a case involving alleged illegal purchases and sales of foreign gifts, according to court records and local media.

Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court, Justice Aamer Farooq, directed Imran Khan to approach the trial court for the suspension of the arrest warrant.

The verdict came an hour after the Lahore High Court ordered the government to stop an ongoing police and paramilitary Rangers operation to arrest the former prime minister from his residence in northeastern Lahore city until Thursday morning.

Khan's attorneys presented an undertaking to the judge, assuring that their client will appear before the trial court at the next scheduled hearing on March 18.

The judge, however, refused to suspend the warrant, and ruled that the undertaking be submitted to the trial court, local broadcaster Geo News reported.

Earlier, a joint team of capital Islamabad and Lahore police arrived at Khan's residence on Tuesday after a district court reinstated his arrest warrant for repeatedly evading hearings despite instructions from the Islamabad High Court in the case related to the alleged illegal purchases and sale of gifts given by foreign dignitaries when he was prime minister from August 2018 to April 2022.

Around 100 policemen were injured during the day-long operation, a spokesman for the Punjab provincial government said.

Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, for its part, claimed that dozens of its workers were injured and arrested during the operation.

Originally, the warrant was issued in late February, but the Islamabad High court suspended it last week and ordered Khan to appear in the court on March 13.

However, the cricketer-turned-politician instead preferred to lead an election rally in Lahore on Monday.

On Feb. 5, police failed to arrest Khan due to resistance from his supporters at his residence.

Khan, the country's only premier to be deposed by a no-confidence vote in the country's 75-year political history, is facing a slew of cases ranging from terrorism to attempted murder and money laundering.

Most of the cases, which Khan dubs a "sham," were lodged after his ouster.

Khan, 70, blames his unceremonious ouster on a US-backed conspiracy, an allegation that both the incumbent coalition government in Islamabad and Washington have repeatedly refuted.