The Balochistan High Court (BHC) on Friday suspended non-bailable arrest warrants issued for PTI chairman Imran Khan by a Quetta judicial magistrate in a case of hate speech against state institutions and officers.
On Thursday, the court of Judicial Magistrate-1 Bashir Ahmed Bazai issued arrest warrants for Imran on the basis of a first information report (FIR) registered against him at Quetta’s Bijli Road police station.
The magistrate had also instructed the police to arrest the PTI chief and present him in court. Following the court orders, a police team was constituted, comprising SSP Investigation Muhammad Umar, DSP CIA Abdul Sattar Achakzai, Inspector Abdul Hameed and others.
Over the past few days, the party has remained on high alert, tweeting out “red alert” messages to reach the Zaman Park residence to stave off arrest. On Sunday, the Islamabad police attempted and failed to arrest Imran as it tried to enforce a court summons for an indictment hearing in the Toshakhana case.
Early Friday morning, the PTI approached the Balochistan High Court (BHC), seeking the cancellation of Imran’s warrants. It also demanded that the FIR lodged against him be quashed.
BHC’s Justice Zaheer-Ud-Din Kakar conducted the hearing today and suspended the arrest warrants for two weeks after listening to arguments from the petitioner’s lawyer.
He also issued notices to the Quetta inspector general of police, director investigation, senior superintendent (legal), the station house officer and the complainant.
The hearing was then adjourned for two weeks.
Earlier today, media reports and the PTI said a police team from Quetta had reached Zaman Park to arrest Imran.
