A local Pakistani court suspended the non-bailable arrest warrant issued against former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday. Khan is accused of threatening a female judicial officer during a public rally in Islamabad in 2022.
The development came a day after senior Judge Rana Mujahid Rahim ordered police to arrest the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and present him in court on March 29. The order was issued following his repeated non-appearances during the case's hearings.
Subsequently, the PTI challenged the verdict in the district court, which came up for hearing in the court of additional sessions with Judge Faizan Haider Gillani.
In Gillani's ruling, the court on Tuesday argued that Khan was justified in not presenting himself, "due to security threat[s] to the life of petitioner [Khan]."
"In this regard, the security provided by the government has also been withdrawn. Learned counsel for the petitioner sought an adjournment to place on record the letter of the Government of Punjab, whereby, the security provided to the petitioner was withdrawn," the court added.
The court further said that the arguments made by Khan's counsel needed more time for consideration and hence suspended the arrest warrant until the next hearing -- March 16.
This isn't the first time a non-bailable arrest warrant has been issued against the cricketer-turned-politician.
On Friday, the PTI chief got a reprieve from the Balochistan High Court (BHC) after it suspended an arrest warrant against him in a hate speech case.
This case against Khan began on March 6 after a Quetta resident filed a complaint alleging that he made "baseless allegations against the state institutions" during a rally on March 5.