Balochistan High Court (BHC) issued a two-week stay of execution on the non-bailable arrest warrant for Imran Khan on Friday. The warrant stemmed from Khan’s alleged use of hate speech against state institutions.
The former prime minister’s petition was presided over by Judge Zaheeruddin Kakar. In response to the petition the parties involved were notified. Moreover, their attorneys were instructed to produce the affidavit at the next hearing.
Imran had filed a first information report (FIR) in Quetta, which is why he went to the BHC. It was contended in the petition that the “case against the PTI chairman has been lodged illegally”, seeking the court to “dismiss the case filed in Bijli Road police station of the provincial capital”.
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Qasim Khan Suri, provincial president of the PTI, and his legal team were present when the motion to dismiss the lawsuit against the party chairman was filed.
An FIR was filed this week against Imran after a citizen filed a complaint accusing him of inciting violence and subverting state institutions via the use of hate speech.
The FIR was filed against Imran by a Nawa Killi resident named Khalil Kakar, and it has been stated that police from Balochistan have already left for Lahore in an attempt to apprehend the former prime minister.
Similar FIRs had been filed against PTI members Azam Swati and Shahbaz Gill for allegedly making derogatory comments about government officials and agencies. The Supreme Court, however, later dismissed the prosecutions.
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On March 5, a squad of police from Islamabad travelled to Lahore with court orders to arrest Imran, but he managed to elude arrest.
Imran went to a district and sessions court to get the warrants for his arrest removed at a later date. The judge at sessions court, however, did not agree with him and upheld the warrants.
A district and sessions court had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for the PTI head in the Toshakhana (gift repository) incident, but on March 13, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) temporarily lifted them.
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