20 policemen including SSP injured as PTI workers clash with police at Judicial Complex n Police picket set on fire, 3 police mobiles, 25 motorcycles badly damaged n ‘Protesters threw petrol bombs, fired tear gas shells at police’ n Toshakhana case hearing adjourned till March 30 n Judge seeks arguments, indictment postponed.

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE    -    After a high drama at the Feder­al Judicial Complex on Saturday, Additional Sessions Judge Zaf­ar Iqbal cancelled Pakistan Teh­reek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Im­ran Khan's non-bailable arrest warrants in the Toshakhana case. 

As clashes erupted between police and supporters of former prime minister outside the Judi­cial Complex the judge allowed Imran Khan to leave after mark­ing his attendance. The judge adjourned the hearing till March 30 and told the parties in the case that arguments will take place during the next hearing and also ordered Imran Khan to ensure his presence.

Imran Khan’s court appear­ance came days after a dramatic standoff at his house in Lahore, where police sought to arrest him after the former prime min­ister failed to appear in court, leading to clashes between po­lice and Khan’s supporters.

Islamabad Chief Commissionner Noorul Amin Mengal shift­ed the hearing of Imran’s case from F-8 Court Complex to the Judicial Complex in G-11 as a ‘one-time dispensation’ after PTI expressed serious security concerns. On early Saturday, the Islamabad’s Judicial Complex area was put on high security to ensure law and order and avoid any untoward situation.

According to reporters who were present inside the court­room, they faced difficulties due to the effects of the teargas used by the police and the windows were pelted by stones as well.

‘VIOLENT CLASHES’

PTI workers on Saturday clashed with police and caused damage to public property be­sides setting ablaze a police post when Imran Khan reached Islamabad from Lahore to ap­pear in a court in the Toshakha­na case. Before the arrival of PTI Chairman Imran Khan at Islam­abad’s Judicial Complex, heavy police contingents were de­ployed to ensure law and order and avoid any untoward situa­tions. However, the PTI workers pelted stones at law enforcers and authorities inside and out­side the premises of the Islam­abad Judicial Complex. 

The workers brought stones in their vehicles and even fired teargas on police personnel which was countered by the law enforcers. PTI workers broke the security barrier of the com­plex for the second time in a row. Despite requests to the PTI chief to enter the judicial complex premises, Imran Khan created a commotion by sitting in his car. A police post was set ablaze and officials were attacked result­ing in injuries to policemen, the police source said. PTI workers also heavily damaged three po­lice mobiles and targeted law en­forcers through slingshots, which forced police to fire teargas. The personnel of Frontier Constabu­lary also stepped in to control the situation. 

Meanwhile, Islamabad Police issued traffic advisory earlier and alerted citizens of possible roadblocks and detours. Mean­while, Inspector General of Po­lice Dr. Akbar Nasir Khan said the best possible security mea­sures were taken at the Judicial Complex ahead of the appear­ance of PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case. He said that roads were closed at a limited scale so commuters could not face the difficulty. He said special directives were is­sued to personnel to ensure se­curity as enemies could exploit such a situation. A total of 4,000 personnel had been deployed to ensure security during the ap­pearance of the PTI chief.

‘PETROL BOMBS, STONE PELTING AND TEAR GAS SHELLING’

As many as 20 policemen in­cluding Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) Islam­abad Malik Jameel Zafar were injured in clashes with PTI workers here on Saturday.

According to police spokes­person, these police personnel were injured due to stone pelt­ing by PTI protesters and vio­lent commotion by them out­side the judicial complex. The injured cops were shifted to hospitals for treatment.

He said that more than 25 motorcycles and vehicles were burnt by the angry protesters while a vehicle of the dispos­al squad of the police was also vandalized.

The angry protesters also set fire to the police post and trees. Protesters attacked the police with petrol bombs and fired tear gas shells at the police.

Demonstrators constantly at­tacked police personnel from different sides. He said that cas­es would be registered and le­gal action to be initiated against them. Islamabad police have also issued video evidence and pictures in which PTI workers could be seen damaging vehi­cles and motorbikes.

‘TRYING MY BEST TO ENTER’

In an audio message shared by his team later on Saturday, Khan said he was not allowed to en­ter the court. “I’ve been outside the court for 15 minutes,” Khan said. “I’m trying my best to en­ter, but the police have fired tear gas, placed obstacles and containers. It seems they don’t want me to enter the court.”

The corruption case against Khan has been brought by the Election Commission of Paki­stan. The electoral watchdog had accused him of not declar­ing gifts received during his time as prime minister from 2018 to 2022 or profits made from sell­ing them. Khan has denied the charges and called them polit­ically motivated. The former prime minister has expressed concerns that the authorities were planning to arrest him, a move that he said is aimed at preventing him from contesting elections this year. Meanwhile, three people were injured as three vehicles traveling with PTI chief Imran Khan’s convoy to Is­lamabad met an accident on Mo­torway on Saturday.

According to a private media report, the accident occurred due to over speeding at Kallar Kahar when the driver of a car lost control, hit other vehicles and turned turtle. As a result, at least three people were in­jured. The car that turned turtle belonged to PTI MNA Shaukat Ali Bhatti from Hafizabad, who was accompanied by other PTI workers. MNA Shaukat Ali re­mained safe in the accident.

‘INDICTMENT POSTPONED’ 

The lower court of Islam­abad on Saturday cancelled the non-bailable arrest warrants against Pakistan Tehreek-e-In­saf Chairman Imran Khan and also postponed his indictment till March 30 in Toshakhana criminal case. Moreover, the court of Additional Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal instructed the lawyers to give arguments on the maintainability of the case in next hearing.

The judge made it clear that Imran Khan had to appear on the next hearing as well. 

To this, the defence lawyer Khwaja Haris said that they would file an exemption plea from the appearance on the next hearing. The judge said that the court would view the situation on the said date regarding the exemption request. 

Moreover, the PTI chairman left for Lahore without going in­side the courtroom and mark­ing his attendance.

As the hearing began, Imran Khan’s lawyer Dr. Baber Awan submitted an exemption plea from the appearance of the PTI chairman. 

He said that Imran Khan had reached the premises of the ju­dicial complex. The judge ob­served that he hoped that the next hearing would be held in F-8 Kachehri Islamabad. 

Meanwhile, the PTI chairman had submitted the surety bonds to the court. In addition, Imran’s lawyer submitted an applica­tion to the court and prayed to the judge to mark his atten­dance as he had reached outside the judicial complex. 

The court accepted the re­quest and sent its staff member to Imran Khan’s car for taking his attendance signature due to the law and order situation out­side the judicial complex. 

The court’s staff member who went to take the signature of Imran Khan was tortured by the miscreants. Later, the court in­quired about the file having the attendance signature of Imran Khan to this SP Samiullah ex­pressed no knowledge. Khwaja Haris said the loss of the said ju­dicial file was a serious matter.

The court, however, post­poned the indictment of Imran Khan till March 30, while can­celling his non-bailable arrest warrants. 

It may be mentioned here that as the PTI chairman reached the Judicial complex, hundreds of miscreants tried to enter the building forcibly. On stopping by the police, the mob attacked the police and vandalized the public property.

PEMRA BANS COVERAGE OF PTI’S RALLY

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has “prohibited live/record­ed coverage of any kind of ral­ly, public gathering, procession by any party, organization and individual” for Saturday (March 18). The ban has also been im­posed on coverage of the rally or procession by any political party from the Judicial Complex, Islamabad, said a notification of PEMRA shared with the media.

According to the notification, the “Competent Authority” im­posed the ban while “exercising powers vested under Section 27(a) of the PEMRA Ordinance 2002 as amended by PEMRA (Amendment) Act 2007.”

In case of non-compliance, PEMRA said “license shall be suspended under Section 30 (3) of PEMRA Ordinance 2002 as amended by PEMRA (Amend­ment) Act 2007, without any show cause notice in the pub­lic interest along with other en­abling provisions of law.”

The action to this effect was taken as the Law Enforcement Agency of Islamabad commu­nicated its concern to PEMRA regarding airing of “live foot­ages / images of violent mob, attacks on police and law en­forcing agencies” by satellite TV channels. It was noted that live telecast of such footages on dif­ferent satellite TV channels cre­ated chaos and panic among the viewers and Police. 

“Airing of such content is in violation of judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Pa­kistan passed in Suo Moto Case No. 28 of 2018 reported as PLD 2019 Supreme Court1, Section 20 of PEMRA Ordinance, 2002 as amended by PEMRA (Amend­ment) Act 2007, Rule 15(1) of PEMRA Rules, 2009, Regulation 18 of PEMRA (Television Broad­cast Station Operations) Reg­ulations 2012, Clause 4 (10), 5, 17 & 24 of Electronic Media (Programmes and Advertise­ments) Code of Conduct 2015 read with Section 27 of PEM­RA Ordinance, 2002 as amend­ed by PEMRA (Amendment) Act 2007,” read the notification.

Meanwhile, Lahore Police Sat­urday launched an operation at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chair­man Imran Khan’s residence, Zaman Park, leaving several po­licemen and PTI activists in­jured during the clash.

According to police and eye­witness, more than 1,000 se­curity personnel took part in the grand operation being con­ducted to remove camps set up outside Imran Khan’s residence using cranes. Pakistan Teh­reek-e-Insaf (PTI) activists con­fronted the police as it removed impediments leading to Imran’s residence. The activists pelted stones at the security personnel and beat them up with batons, leaving at least three policemen injured who were shifted to Ser­vices Hospital.

The police retaliated with a baton charge and managed to break through the gate of Zaman Park and gain entry into the premises. According to re­ports, several PTI workers have been arrested during the opera­tion. Meanwhile, the Lahore ad­ministration has also beefed up security on Mall Road to pre­vent the assembly of PTI work­ers following the operation. The main artery of the city has been closed to traffic, owing to which commuters have faced extreme difficulties. 

At least four prisoner vans were stationed on Mall Road, with heavy contingents of An­ti-Riot Force deployed to handle the untoward situation. 

‘A LEGAL OBLIGATION’

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Dr Usman An­war said on Saturday that so far 61 activists of Pakistan Teh­reek-e-Insaf (PTI) had been ar­rested for attacking the police during an action at Zaman Park.

Addressing a press conference along with Caretaker Punjab Minister for Information Amir Mir here, he said the police took action in Zaman Park after get­ting search warrants, adding that the court had cleared that it was a legal obligation of the police to carry out the investi­gation process on merit. IGP An­war put on display the alleged petrol bombs and said, “These petrol bombs were recovered from there (Zaman Park), and there is also ammunition oth­er than this.” He also said po­lice had finished the search and cleanup operation in Zaman Park and took into custody AK-47 assault rifles and a large number of bullets from Im­ran Khan’s mansion in Lahore’s posh neighbourhood.