Lahore : A Pakistani court on Wednesday granted temporary relief to Imran Khan by ordering police to stop action outside his residence till Thursday. Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Tuesday challenged the police action in the Lahore High Court and requested the court to direct the government to end it. On Wednesday, the police called off the operation after the Lahore High Court (LHC) summoned the Inspector General of Punjab, the Chief Secretary and the Islamabad Police (Operations) chief on a petition filed by PTI leader Fawad Chaudhary.
Fawad Chaudhary had sought an order from the court to stop the police operation outside Imran Khan’s residence at Zaman Park in Lahore. An official of the Lahore High Court said, “Inspector General of Police, Punjab province, Dr. Usman Anwar appeared before the court and said that the police had to launch this operation because the Islamabad police had brought an arrest warrant for Imran Khan in the Toshakhana gift case.” We had to implement this order under the law. He said that around 59 policemen were injured in the clash with PTI workers.
‘Why did the campaign start four days ago?’
The court official said, ‘PTI’s counsel told the court that the sessions court in Islamabad had issued an order on March 18 to ensure the presence of Imran Khan in the court in the Toshakhana gift case. Why was a police operation launched to arrest him four days ago? He requested the court to intervene to save human life.
Lawyers on the road to protest against the police
Lahore High Court Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh asked PTI’s counsel whether the Islamabad High Court was hearing PTI’s plea to quash the arrest warrant of Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case. The court official said, “The lawyer told that the IHC is hearing Khan’s petition. On this, Justice Shaikh said that let the IHC decide the matter and in the meanwhile the government should stop the police action. Meanwhile, a large number of lawyers also gathered on the Mall Road to protest against the police action.
