A sessions court in Lahore suspended the arrest warrants earlier issued by a civil court against Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik and three other officers for not attending proceedings of a contempt of court plea against them, it emerged on Wednesday.

The PIA chief executive and the other officers had challenged the contempt proceedings and issuance of their bailable arrest warrants by Civil Judge Muhammad Akram Azad.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Abid Ali on Tuesday admitted their petition for regular hearing and suspended implementation on the arrest warrants.

A sacked pilot, Capt Mian Shahzad Aziz had filed the contempt petition against the PIA officials for not reinstating his services despite a court order.

PIA CEO Malik, Director Flight Operations Capt Uzair Khan, Chief Pilot Capt Ali Zamman and Chief Human Resource Officer Air Vice Marshal Subhan Nazir Syed in their petition in the sessions court stated that the civil court did not fulfil legal requisites while issuing their arrest warrants.

They requested the court to declare the "illegal" issuance of the warrants by the civil judge as null and void.

After a preliminary hearing, Judge Ali admitted the petition for hearing on April 20 and issued a notice to Aziz to submit his reply in the matter.