ISLAMABAD: Islamabad magistrate Rana Mujahid Rahim on Saturday issued an arrest warrant for former Prime Minister Imran Khan for allegedly threatening a woman judge at a rally in August.
The arrest warrant, seen by Arab News, includes four sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). These include sections 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 189 (threat of injury to public servant), and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant).
Khan had criticized Chaudhry in an impassioned speech during a rally on August 20 in Islamabad's F-9 park. The rally was held to protest his chief of staff Dr. Shahbaz Gill's arrest. At the rally, the ex-premier promised his supporters he would not “spare” the Islamabad inspector general and deputy inspector general of police, adding his party would also “take action” against Chaudhry, who had remanded Gill in police custody.
However, Islamabad Police clarified that the warrant was issued to ensure Khan appeared before the court in the next hearing of the case since he had missed the previous one. It said the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had thrown out terror charges against Khan, after which the case against him for criticizing the judge was shifted to a session court.
“Imran Khan has still not obtained bail from the session court,” Islamabad Police wrote on Twitter. “In case he does not appear [for the next hearing], he can be arrested. We request people not to heed rumors.”
Asad Umar, secretary-general of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, warned authorities against arresting the former premier. "Don't make the mistake of taking Imran Khan into custody. You will regret it," he wrote on Twitter.
The IHC took notice of the speech and accused the ex-premier of threatening her in a contempt of court case. However, after Khan’s apology in court last week, the IHC—expected to indict the former premier—said it was satisfied with his response and asked him to submit a written affidavit.
On Friday, Khan appeared before Chaudhry’s court to tender an apology in person but she was reportedly on leave. In an affidavit that Khan submitted at the IHC earlier today, Saturday, the politician said he had struggled for the respect and independence of the judiciary in Pakistan for the past 26 years.
“That the deponent realized during these proceedings before the Honourable Court that the deponent might have crossed a red line while making public speech on 20 August 2022,” he wrote.
Khan said he never meant to threaten the judge and that “there was no intention behind the statement to take any action other than a legal action.”
The ex-premier said he was willing to explain and clarify before Chaudhry that neither he nor his party sought or intended to seek any action against her. “The deponent is willing to apologize to the Hon'ble Judge if she got an impression that the deponent had crossed a line,” he added.
Khan assured the court he would never do anything in future that would hurt the dignity of any court and the judiciary, especially the lower judiciary.
The cricket-star turned politician has faced a barrage of legal woes since his ouster in a vote of no-confidence in April by a united opposition led by his successor, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.