Pakistani court again rejects Jan’s request to suspend his arrest warrants

Jan picks up Prime Minister Sharif’s invitation to dialogue and says he is willing to talk to anyone

March 16 (EUROPA PRESS) –

An Islamabad court has rejected this Thursday the request of former Prime Minister Imran Jan to suspend the arrest warrants against him in the framework of the case known as ‘Toshakhana’ in relation to the gifts he would have received during his tenure and would not have declared correctly.

Judge Zafar Iqbal’s ruling maintains that it is “quite obvious” that Jan never appeared in court on any of the four dates on which he was summoned and that his insistence on failing to comply with these orders has been a “challenge to dignity and command of the State”, reports the newspaper ‘Dawn’.

Likewise, he has stressed that his refusal to appear has created public disorder, with his followers using force to obstruct the work of the police and security forces. For all this, he “has lost some of the normal rights granted by law (…) and has to surrender before the court.”

ACCEPT THE INVITATION TO DIALOGUE

After the Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, opened the door to negotiate, the leader of the Movement for Justice of Pakistan (PTI) has gone to his social networks from where he has revealed his intention to “talk to anyone” for the good of “development, interests and democracy” in the country.

“I will not avoid any sacrifice for the development, interests and democracy of Pakistan, in this regard, I am ready to talk to anyone and I am ready to take all steps in this direction,” Jan wrote.

Jan, who has several open charges against him, has been protected by thousands of his followers who have blocked access to his residence in Islamabad. “I want to express my sincerest gratitude to the people of Pakistan who joined us in the fight for true freedom,” he thanked them.

In this case, Jan is accused of concealing in his declarations of assets details about some of the gifts he received during his tenure as prime minister between 2018 and 2022. The legislation allows government officials to keep the gifts as long as they pay the State a fraction of their value, previously appraised.

Jan had to leave office in April 2022 after a vote of no confidence was passed against him after seeing the Supreme Court reverse its decision to dissolve the National Assembly and announce early elections.