Islamabad: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Monday directed the Islamabad Police to arrest former Prime Minister Imran Khan and produce him before it on Tuesday in a case related to contempt of the top electoral body. Angered by Khan’s continued absence from the hearing, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) directed the Islamabad IG to arrest the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief for failure to appear in the contempt case.
The ECP had last year initiated contempt proceedings against 70-year-old Khan and former PTI leaders Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry for allegedly using “intemperate” language against the Chief Election Commissioner and the election monitoring body.
A four-judge ECP bench headed by member Nisar Durrani had on July 11 issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Khan and Chowdhary, sparing Umar in the last hearing. It rescheduled the hearing for July 25 with an order for all to be present.
cre trending stories
In the latest orders, the ECP said Khan was “required in contempt of the proceedings of the Commission initiated in terms of section 10 of the Elections Act, 2017” but had failed to appear before the ECP even after notices and bailable warrants were issued to him on January 16 and March 2.
Earlier, the ECP had asked the PTI leaders to appear in person or through their counsel to explain their position, but they challenged the notices and contempt proceedings in higher courts.
After protracted proceedings, the Supreme Court in January allowed the ECP to continue proceedings against the three and later, the apex electoral body decided to frame charges against them.
Khan has been facing multiple cases in various courts since he was removed from power in April last year. Chowdhary, once a staunch supporter of Khan, deserted him after the 9 May violence.
On 20 July, former PTI leader Chowdhary apologized to the ECP in a contempt case filed against him by the election watchdog.
The ECP’s announcement came hours after the Supreme Court restrained authorities from arresting Khan till August 9 in connection with the murder of senior lawyer Abdul Razzaq Shar in Quetta.