Pak court issues non-bailable arrest warrant against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM in arms and liquor case

Islamabad, Sep 4 (PTI) A Pakistan court on Wednesday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in a case of arms and liquor.

The case was launched against him in October 2016 after police claimed to have recovered five Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol, six magazines, a bullet-proof vest, three teargas shells, and bottles of alcohol from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader.

Gandapur was a provincial minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where his PTI party was in power when the case was registered.

Civil judge Shaista Khan Kundi of the Islamabad-based court ordered police to arrest Gandapur and produce him before the court after he failed to show up for a hearing. The court rejected the chief minister's plea for exemption from attendance on medical grounds while adjourning the case till Thursday.

Earlier this year, Gandapur was declared a proclaimed offender for failing to attend the court proceedings but a district court on March 7 overturned the trial court's order after his lawyer informed it that the PTI leader couldn't appear in court because of his official engagements as the new Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister.

According to political experts, the case has lingered on as a classic example of Pakistan's inept judicial system where powerful people find ways to circumvent the legal process in collusion with judicial officials. PTI SH SCY SCY