Islamabad court directs police to implement arrest warrant for CM Gandapur in liquor case

A local court in the federal capital on Wednesday directed the Islamabad police to implement arrest warrant issued for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in a 2016 case, wherein he is accused of carrying liquor and unlicensed weapons.

Civil Judge Mubashir Hassan directed the SSP operations of Islamabad police to ensure implementation of the court’s order to arrest the PTI firebrand chief minister.

During the course of hearing, a report on CM Gandapur’s arrest warrants was submitted to the local court. The police did not execute the arrest warrants for the provincial chief executive, read the report.

Irked by his continuous non-appearance, the court maintained his non-bailable arrest warrants and directed the authority concerned to produce the chief minister before the court after taking him into custody.

Meanwhile, the court adjourned the hearing till October 26.

Earlier this month, Judicial Magistrate Mubashir Hussain Chishti issued non-bailable arrest warrant for the KP CM in arms and liquor recovery case.

What's the case?

A case was lodged against the PTI leader after the alleged recovery of five Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol, six magazines, a bullet-proof vest, three teargas shells, and bottles of alcohol in October 2016.

Gandapur, who was then serving as a provincial minister in KP, was charged under the illegal arms and anti-drugs laws after illicit arms and a bottle of liquor were allegedly recovered from his car.

A local court in Islamabad on March 7 this year overturned the trial court orders declaring KP CM Gandapur a "proclaimed offender" in the said case registered against him in Bharakahu police station.

Earlier, a trial court had declared Gandapur an absconder for evading the law in the case.

District and Sessions Court Judge Shahrukh Arjumand had nullified the trial court's order over a review petition filed by the suspect.

The petitioner's lawyer had informed the court that Gandapur couldn't appear in court because of his official engagements as the new KP chief minister. He had requested the court to exempt Gandapur from the proceedings hearing that day.

The lawyer had said that the trial court had declared Gandapur a proclaimed absconder for continuously skipping the proceedings in the case. He had said that Gandapur hadn't received the court's summons due to non-compliance by the process server, designated for delivering the legal documents.

Accepting the request, the sessions judge had directed the lawyer to submit surety bonds worth Rs50,000 on Gandapur's behalf and present a local person as the guarantor.

The court had then remanded the case back to the trial court while overturning its orders declaring Gandapur an absconder.