PTI chief Imran Khan has won another reprieve from the court. The Balochistan High Court suspended his arrest warrant on Friday shortly after a police team from the province landed in Lahore to arrest the former prime minister.

Justice Zahiruddin Kakar suspended the arrest warrants during the preliminary hearing. The court will hear the petition seeking dismissal of the case after the Friday prayers.

The court suspended the judicial magistrate’s non-bailable arrest warrant for two weeks.

A judicial magistrate in Quetta issued the arrest warrants for Imran Khan on Friday. The magistrate had asked the police to present him in front of the judicial magistrate after the arrest.

In a notice, Justice Kakar also summoned the inspector general of police, the superintendent of police legal, and the station house officer after two weeks on the plea.

He also ordered the lawyers to present an advocacy letter in the next hearing of the case. Later, the court adjourned the hearing of the case for two weeks.

Earlier, a team under Quetta City SP Nadeem arrived in Lahore to arrest the PTI chief. DSP Abdusattar Achakzai, Sub-Inspector Malik Hameed, two commandos and a police driver were also on the team.

There were reports that the caretaker Punjab government was ready to deploy over 1,000 police personnel, including anti-riot police, to arrest Imran Khan.

Reports also suggested that Imran Khan was to be moved to the notorious Mach prison in Balochistan.

The fears of arrest were so real that PTI worked out the scenario after Khan’s arrest. It was decided that Shah Mahmood Qureshi will lead the party in Khan’s absence.

Supporters of PTI have many times thronged the Zaman Park in Lahore on the party’s call over the past weeks, fearing that Imran would be arrested.

The latest in the series was Islamabad police’s attempt to the Imran on Sunday. They were met by many supporters of the PTI.

Petition

The PTI’s Balochistan wing had challenged the case against Imran in the Balochistan High Court. Imran’s lawyer Syed Iqbal Shah had filed the petition in the court.

It claimed that the case could not be registered at the Bijli Road Police Station, arguing that the case registered against Imran at Quetta’s Bijli Road police station was not valid since the alleged offence did not fall under its jurisdiction.

The plea urged the court to end quash the FIR registered against Imran.

FIR

The complaint against Imran was registered on March 5 by a citizen from Nawa Killi. It alleged that Imran tried to spread hatred with his provocative speech when Islamabad police reached Zaman Park to arrest him.

The PTI chairman hurled “baseless allegations” against state institutions and spread hatred via his speech against officers of state institutions, it alleged. The speech posed serious risks to the country’s law and order, it claimed and said it was akin to disturbing peace.

Sections 124-A (sedition), 153-A (giving provocation with intent to cause a riot if rioting is committed; if not committed) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code were added to the FIR

It also included Section 20 (Offences against the dignity of a natural person) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016.