ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued bailable arrest warrants for PTI Chairman Imran Khan and senior party leader Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday for contempt of the ECP and chief election commissioner due to their continued absence (CEC).
Lahore police filed another charge against key PTI leaders for incendiary comments and accusing the state of assassinating Imran Khan.
A four-member ECP bench led by Sindh member Nisar Durrani highlighted that the former prime minister was insulting the commission by not appearing before it despite repeated summonses.
The panel ordered the Islamabad police chief to arrest Mr. Khan and Fawad Chaudhry and appear before it on March 14.
The ECP issued show-cause orders to the PTI chief and party leaders Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry for using indecent language against the commission and its head last year. Last Monday, just Mr. Umar came before the ECP bench.
The PTI chief claimed he had contested the notice and show-cause notice in the Lahore High Court. He said high court orders will apply to these proceedings. “Neither the notice nor the show-cause notice have been issued by the rightful authority and the secretary of ECP or the DG of Law cannot assume authority to issue any notice or show-cause notice without express provision of law authorising them,” Mr Khan added.
Asad Umar’s reaction made similar claims.
Plea dismissed
On Tuesday, the ECP rejected a petition to remove Imran Khan as PTI chairman after Afaq Ahmad misbehaved with the bench.
CEC Sikander Sultan Raja responded to Lawyer Gohar, Mr. Khan’s lawyer, that the Lahore High Court had banned the commission from issuing a judgement in the matter.
Afaq Ahmed said the ECP had been sending him “fake notices” from Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. “The deputy director of the law department was negligent,” he said.
The CEC told him to stop pointing fingers, reduce his voice, and discuss the case.
The petitioner asked who served notice after the matter was heard. The petitioner said that he would not say what Mr. Raja wanted to hear when the CEC asked what he meant.
The CEC ordered police to remove Mr. Ahmad from court. The ECP rejected the appeal.
Another case against PTI leaders
Meanwhile, Lahore police filed another case against senior PTI officials Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Fawad Chaudhry and 50 party activists for giving speeches inciting the people against the government and accusing the state of plotting to kill former PM Imran Khan.
A day earlier, Lahore police filed a FIR against the PTI chairman, his chief of staff Shibli Faraz, and 150 other party activists for harassing Islamabad police during a raid on the former prime minister’s Zaman Park mansion.
On the Race Course police station’s Sub-Inspector Mohammad Waseem’s allegation, police applied seven PPC provisions to the FIR.
The police accused Mr. Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry, and the 50 PTI activists of inciting the public to harm or destroy property. The police FIR claimed they held a news conference outside the PTI chief’s Zaman Park mansion and obstructed highways, yelled hate speech, and threatened.
