Pakistan's election authority issues arrest warrant for former premier

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) – The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday issued bailable arrest warrants for former prime minister and chairman of the main opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, in cases related to the contempt of the electoral body.

A four-member bench of the ECP headed by Nisar Durrani, a member of the electoral body, issued the bailable arrest warrants for Khan, his party’s General Secretary Asad Umar, and Vice President Fawad Chaudhry.

“The Election Commission has issued arrest warrants for Imran Khan, me, and Fawad Chaudhry. They are engaged in these tasks instead of conducting their own election,” Asad Umar tweeted.

He accused the Election Commission of contempt of court while not holding local bodies elections in Islamabad.

Fawad Chaudhry announced to move the Lahore High Court against today’s verdict as, according to him, “the ECP committed contempt of court.”

“The Election Commission's decision to issue a bailable warrant is an insult to the High Court's decision,” he said.

He added the case was earlier fixed for Jan. 17 but they heard it today, which violates the rules.

“This is another biased decision by these members of the Election Commission and we will file a contempt of court case in the High Court,” he declared.

The ECP directed the former premier and his close aides to appear before the bench on Jan. 17.

Last year in August, the election authorities issued notices to Khan and his close aides for contempt of ECP after they accused the Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja and the electoral body of being a subsidiary of the ruling party.