ISLAMABAD: A six-member team of Islamabad Police is currently visiting Lahore to arrest former prime minister Imran Khan after his warrants were issued in two separate cases, said a police official on Tuesday, adding that his colleagues were performing their duty and would follow the law.

Islamabad’s district courts issued Khan’s non-bailable arrest warrants in cases related to the sale of state gifts and threatening a female judge while addressing a public rally in August last year. However, the warrant was suspended in the latter case on Tuesday.

The ex-premier has been booked in over 70 different cases on various charges, including blasphemy, terrorism and sedition, since his ouster from power last April. He has been avoiding arrest in all the cases by seeking relief from various courts.

“Our six-member police team is already in Lahore to arrest the former prime minister as per the court orders,” Taqi Jawad, an Islamabad police spokesperson, told Arab News on Tuesday.

“We have been following the legal procedure,” he said, adding it was the police’s responsibility to act on court orders.

Jawad declined to give any specific details about when or how the police wanted to arrest the former prime minister from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. Khan’s supporters have erected barriers outside his home and set up makeshift camps to stop the law enforcement agencies from detaining him.

In a case pertaining to threats to the female judge, a district court in Islamabad on Tuesday suspended Khan’s non-bailable arrest warrants till March 16 after his lawyer pleaded that he could not appear before the trial court due to threats to his life.

In August last year, Khan used aggressive language against the judge, Zeba Chaudhry, and threatened to take legal action against her for physically remanding his former chief of staff, Shahbaz Gill, into police custody even amid allegations of torture.

In the case involving the sale of state gifts – popularly called the Toshakhana reference – a district court on Monday restored the former prime minister’s non-bailable arrest warrants due to his continuous absence from the court.
Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq directed Khan to appear before the court on March 13 in the case, but the ex-PM failed to comply while citing security reasons.

The court rejected Khan’s exemption plea and directed the police to present him in the court on March 18.

“We will be following the court orders to ensure the accused’s presence in the court,” the police spokesperson said.