Judge grants final opportunity to firebrand politician to record his statement under Section 342
\n ISLAMABAD
\nA district and sessions court in Islamabad on Saturday issued arrest warrants for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in a liquor and illegal weapons recovery case.
\nThe federal capital\u2019s court ordered the authorities concerned to arrest and produce Gandapur after rejecting the KP chief executive\u2019s request for exemption from personal appearance.
\nAt the outset of the hearing, the judge granted the final opportunity to the firebrand politician to record his statement under Section 342.
\nIt also warned that the court may issue a verdict in his absence, and failure to do so could forfeit his right to record the statement.
\nThe court directed that Gandapur be produced before July 21 and emphasised that authorities should not face failure in executing the arrest order.
\nThe order read that the case had been pending for eight years, and the prosecution recorded testimonies of witnesses since May last year. Expressing displeasure over Gandapur\u2019s absence in the hearing, the court said that the KP CM was deliberately avoiding recording his statement.
\nIt added that the Peshawar High Court\u2019s (PHC) ruling does not prevent the court from issuing arrest warrants in the matter.
\nThe court added that the Peshawar High Court\u2019s earlier decision does not prevent this court from issuing arrest warrants in the matter.
\nThe hearing was adjourned till July 21.
\nThis development comes a week after KP CM Gandapur announced launching the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)\u2019s \u201cdo-or-die\u201d protest movement from Lahore.
\nThe former ruling party had formally launched its anti-government campaign, set to reach its \u201cpeak\u201d by August 5, following the directives of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Judge grants final opportunity to firebrand politician to record his statement under Section 342 ISLAMABAD A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Saturday issued arrest warrants for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in a liquor and illegal weapons recovery case. The federal capital\u2019s court ordered the authorities concerned to arrest and produce […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-491293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n