Court orders Imran Khan's arrest in Toshakhana case.

ISLAMABAD -- A district and sessions court restored on Monday Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan's non-bailable arrest warrant in the Toshakhana case.

The Islamabad court had earlier reserved its verdict on a petition filed by the former prime minister seeking an exemption from the hearing of the case.

Last week, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended the non-bailable arrest warrant for Khan issued by the local court issued due to the PTI chief's continuous absence.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq accepted the PTI chief's plea against Additional Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal's decision and directed Khan to ensure that he appears before the lower court on March 13.

However, during today's hearing, Khan filed an exemption plea citing security threats and failed to appear before the court once again.

Rejecting Khan's exemption plea, the court issued orders to arrest the PTI chief and present him before the court on March 18.

"It is the police's job to bring Imran Khan to the court," remarked the court.

At the outset of today's hearing, Imran Khan's legal team again sought an exemption citing security threats and also filed a request to be discharged from the case.

Judge Iqbal heard the case and reserved the verdict till 3:15pm today on the plea filed by Khan's counsel Khawaja Haris.

"It's not that Imran Khan is not appearing before the court deliberately. He has security threats," said the lawyer.

Haris also filed a plea seeking to declare the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) complaint against the PTI chief as "non-maintainable".

The sessions court had ordered the PTI chairman to appear before it for his indictment in the case. However, Khan's lawyer stated that the PTI chair will not appear before the courts today.

Khan's counsel said that it should be decided whether the case is admissible before issuing an arrest warrant, adding that legal requirements were not taken into account while filing a complaint against Khan.

"The Election Commission did not file a complaint...