ISLAMABAD: A local court on Friday converted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s non-bailable arrest warrants into bailable warrants in a female judge threatening case.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Sikandar Khan, while announcing the verdict on the review petition of former premier Khan, converted Khan’s non-bailable arrest warrants into bailable warrants. The court also ordered the PTI chairman to submit surety bonds worth Rs 20,000.

Judicial Magistrate Malik Aman on March 29 rejected Khan’s exemption plea and issued his non-bailable arrest warrants in the same case.

At the start of the hearing, Zakaria Arif associate of Khan’s lead counsel told the court that Ali Bukhari, Khan’s lead counsel is admitted to the hospital due to a heart problem. He requested the court to adjourn the case till Tuesday next.

The court directed Khan’s lead counsel’s associate to contact a senior lawyer of PTI’s chief to appear before the court. The court took a short break.

Special prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi while arguing before the court after the break said that they are filing petitions again and again.

To this, the judge said that they have already filed an affidavit before the court.

Advocate Arif informed the court that Faisal Chaudhry advocate on his way to court.

The special prosecutor told the court that the accused had yet not appeared before the court. Earlier, the court had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant of Khan. The court then converted the non-bailable warrant into a bailable arrest warrant and directed the accused to appear before the court, Abbasi further said.

He said that despite converting the non-bailable arrest into bailable warrants the accused has not appeared before the court. He requested the court to reject the petition seeking revision of arrest warrants.

Khan’s counsel Faisal Chaudhry, while arguing before the court said how can a magistrate first issues non-bailable arrest warrants. Magistrate first issue bailable arrest warrants, he further said. He requested the court to convert Khan’s non-bailable arrest warrants to bailable warrants.

The court after hearing arguments of both parties converted the non-bailable arrest warrants of Khan into bailable warrants against the surety bonds of Rs 20,000.

Faisal Chaudhry, while taking to media outside the court,said that the issuance of the non-bailable arrest warrants was illegal. This decision was a victory and prevented the prosecution from staging another drama outside Zaman Park.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023