Case registered against Imran Khan and his activists for obstructing Islamabad Police

Islamabad Police on Monday registered a case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan and 150 of his party workers for obstructing law enforcement agency officials from implementing a court order against the ousted prime minister in the Toshakhana case a day earlier.

A team of Islamabad police on Sunday reached the Lahore residence of ousted prime minister Imran Khan to arrest him in the Toshakhana case but returned after assurance from his legal team that he will appear before the court on March 7.

The police faced stiff resistance from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) activists outside Khan's Zaman Park residence in Lahore.

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Khan, 70, has been in the crosshairs for buying gifts, including an expensive Graff wristwatch he had received as the premier at a discounted price from the state depository called Toshakhana, and selling them for profit.

The case, nominates Khan's chief of staff Senator Shibli Faraz and 150 of his party workers, was registered on Monday at the Race Course police station on the complaint of Station House Officer (SHO) Nadeem Tahir, according to The Express Tribune newspaper.

An Islamabad-based district court on Monday refused to withdraw a non-bailable arrest warrant it issued last week against Khan for his failure to appear in the Toshakhana case.

The PTI chief had filed an application in the Islamabad district and sessions court against the warrants issued on February 28 after Khan skipped several hearings in the case.

Khan has not attended any hearings since November last year when he was injured in an assassination attempt at his rally in the Wazirabad area of Punjab.

The former cricketer-turned-politician was granted interim bail by a special court in Islamabad after being shot during the assassination attempt.

He has since received extensions on his bail due to medical reasons.

Khan was ousted from power in April after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China, and Afghanistan.

The PTI chief, who came to power in 2018, is the only Pakistani Prime Minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.