Pakistan election body issues arrest warrant for Imran

Islamabad: A lawyer for Imran Khan, a leading opposition figure in Pakistan, says the country’s election commission has issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of contempt.

Babar Awan said on Thursday the commission has asked Khan to post bail and appear before a panel on September 25 to answer charges he made indecent remarks about the body earlier this year, when he called it “biased.”

Khan says the commission lacks the authority to hold him in contempt because it isn’t a court.

The electoral body also ordered the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman to submit surety bonds of 100,000 rupees (Dh3,488) until September 25 to avoid arrest, the News International reported.

Hearing the contempt of court case against Khan filed by PTI dissident and one of the founding members, Akbar S. Babar, the poll panel ordered the politician to appear before the court on September 25.

Awan argued on Thursday that the PTI chief had been abroad and had returned to the country on the same day.

“Imran Khan respects the Election Commission and will appear before the ECP whenever it orders,” Dawn quoted Awan as saying.

However, the petitioner’s lawyer said the ECP had ordered Khan to appear before it but he kept ignoring the directions.

“If he respected state institutions, he should have been here,” the lawyer added.

The ECP, which reserved its judgment in the contempt case, had last month issued a second showcause notice to the PTI chief after he failed to reply to the earlier notice regarding the contempt of court proceedings against him.

Raising objections over the ECP’s jurisdiction to initiate contempt proceedings against him, the PTI chief had initially challenged the maintainability of the contempt petition.

The ECP, however, declared on August 10 that it had the legal right to hear the contempt case and had then issued a formal showcause notice to the PTI chairman, asking him to submit a reply by August 23.

Pakistan is expected to hold elections next year, and Khan, a cricket legend-turned-politician, is a potential contender to be prime minister. He has been a vocal critic of US involvement in Afghanistan as well as drone strikes in Pakistan.