ISLAMABAD: The Rawalpindi bench of Lahore High Court on Monday suspended bailable arrest warrants for Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry and Secretary General Asad Umar issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in a contempt case.

Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan of the LHC, however, allowed the ECP to continue contempt proceedings against them.

A four-member ECP bench had last week issued the bailable arrest warrants for the PTI leaders for allegedly using intemperate language against the chief election commissioner (CEC).

The Supreme Court had earlier allowed the ECP to continue contempt proceedings against the PTI leaders.

The four-member ECP bench, headed by Sindh member Nisar Ahmad Durrani, had issued five separate but almost identical orders — one against Asad Umar and two each against Imran Khan and Fawad Chaudhry — over the contempt of the ECP and CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja.

“The long and short [conclusion] of above discussion is that the respondent has neither appeared before the commission and nor filed his reply to the show-cause notice [dated Sept 13, 2022] as yet after lapse of sufficient time,” one of the orders stated.

“In such view of the matter, it appears that respondent namely Imran Khan is deliberately seeking adjournments on one or other pretext and [is] also reluctant to appear before this commission which amounts to mockery of law. Such conduct of the respondent could not be tolerable, as his non-appearance before this commission seems to be intentional,” the ECP said.

PTI’s legal team had challenged the bailable warrants before the LHC.

The court sought reply from the ECP and adjourned the hearing.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2023