Islamabad, Oct 22: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Wednesday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Aleema Khan, the sister of former premier Imran Khan, over her continuous absence from the hearing in a case.
This is the fourth time Rawalpindi-based Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) has issued such a warrant against her in the case about protests staged by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in November last year, according to the Dawn newspaper.
At the proceedings, 10 of the 11 suspects appeared before the court, while Aleema was absent, the report said.
Subsequently, the ATC again issued the warrant against her over failure to appear before the court.
The court also issued a show-cause notice to Superintendent of Police (Rawal Division) Saad Arshad and Deputy Superintendent of Police Naeem for filing a “bogus report”, and summoned them in their personal capacities over “contempt of court”.
The court remarked that the officials had said in the report that Aleema had gone into hiding. But, she was seen at the Adiala jail, where Khan, her brother, is jailed, and also on social media channels.
During the last hearing, the court had directed SP Saad to arrest and produce Aleema before the court on October 22. It had also ordered the confiscation of her surety bond and the verification of property documents submitted by her guarantor.
At the hearing, her guarantor’s surety bonds were confiscated and Aleema was directed to submit new surety bonds worth Rs 1 million.
The case has been adjourned till November 24.
Earlier, the court had also rejected her counsel’s plea for exemption from personal appearance, observing that she was to be charged with criminal offences in connection with the November 26 protest.
The November 26 protests saw more than 10,000 PTI protesters enter Islamabad, defying a ban on public gatherings, clashing with 20,000 security forces deployed to stop them.
Subsequently, cases were registered against several PTI leaders under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, according to the report. (PTI)
