March 06, 2023, Lahore: Pakistan: Pakistani police on Sunday served arrest warrants to former prime minister Imran Khan to ensure his appearance in court on charges of misusing his office to sell state gifts, authorities said, after Khan’s supporters tried to prevent police entry into his home.
In October, the election commission of Pakistan found the 70-year-old cricket-hero-turned politician guilty of unlawfully selling gifts from foreign dignitaries. The Federal Investigation Agency then filed charges against him in an anti-graft court, which issued the arrest warrants last week after Khan failed to appear in court despite repeated summons.
Khan has been demanding a snap election since his ouster from office in a parliamentary vote early last year, which was rejected by his successor Shehbaz Sharif, who has said the vote would be held as scheduled later this year.
He led countrywide protest campaigns to press for an early vote last year and was shot at and wounded at one of the rallies. Referring to his absence from the court and the shooting incident, Khan said on Sunday: “They (the police) know there is a threat against my life,” adding that the courts did not provide adequate security.
Khan’s aide Fawad Chaudhry said he couldn’t be arrested because he had secured a protective bail from a high court. Chaudhry said the government wanted to sow political chaos and avoid an early election by arresting the former premier, still popular among the country’s youth and urban voters. Islamabad police said they served arrest warrants when Khan wasn’t found at his residence in Lahore. Khan is required to appear in court on March 7. If he fails, police must arrest him and present him to court, according to Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah.
