Non-bailable arrest warrants issued for Imran Khan in Toshakhana, judge threatening cases.

Two non-bailable arrest warrants were issued for PTI chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Monday after he failed to appear in courts in cases linked to the Toshakhana reference and threatening a woman additional district and sessions judge.

The 70-year-old ex-premier has been recovering from a gunshot injury from an assassination attempt in Wazirabad last year and has skipped hearings in several cases.

The PTI chief was supposed to appear before two district and session courts in Islamabad today but Imran's lawyers filed petitions seeking an exemption from the hearings citing security reasons.

The courts of Additional District and Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal (hearing the Toshakhana case) and Senior Civil Judge Rana Mujahid Rahim (hearing the judge threatening case) issued arrest warrants for Imran and instructed the police to present him before the courts on March 18 and March 21, respectively.

Toshakhana case

The court of ADSJ Zafar Iqbal restored non-bailable arrest warrants for Imran in the Toshakhana reference. It instructed the police to arrest the PTI chief and present him in court by March 18.

Imran has thrice skipped indictment hearings in the case. He is accused of concealing, in his assets declarations, details of the gifts he retained from the Toshakhana - a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept.

The sessions court was set to indict Imran in the Toshakhana Reference on Feb 28, but his lawyer had requested the judge that he be exempted from the hearing because he had to appear in several other courts. His indictment was deferred twice before.

The judge had then issued arrest warrants for Imran and adjourned the hearing till March 7.

On March 5, an Islamabad police team was sent to Lahore to arrest Imran with the court summons. However, it returned empty-handed after the PTI chief evaded the arrest.

Subsequently, Imran had approached the Islamabad High Court last week seeking the cancellation of his arrest warrants.

On March 7, the IHC had suspended Imran's non-bailable arrest warrants till March 13 and instructed him to appear before the sessions court.

At the outset of the proceedings today, Imran's counsel Khawaja Haris informed the court that his client was not able to appear today. 'He is not refusing to appear, but due to security threats he cannot be present,' he said.

Haris said similar appeals had also been filed before the Lahore High Court and the Islamabad...