ISLAMABAD – The district and sessions court in Islamabad on Saturday issued an arrest warrant for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, demanding that he be detained and produced before the court by Monday. Last month, Gandapur appeared before the district and sessions court in a hearing related to the illegal arms and liquor case registered at Bhara Kahu police station.
The CM appeared before Judicial Magistrate Mubashir Hassan Chishti along with his counsel, Raja Zahoorul Hassan. The defence argued that the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had already granted Gandapur interim bail until July 3, and requested the suspension of the non-bailable arrest warrant issued earlier. The court ordered that Gandapur submit his response under Section 342 (power to examine the accused) of the Criminal Procedure Code. The CM informed the court that he would file the response after the presentation of the KP budget. Following this assurance and his appearance, the court suspended the arrest warrants and adjourned the case until July 2. On Saturday, Magistrate Chishti issued the arrest warrant under Sections 143 (punishment for joining unlawful assembly), 144 (joining unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapon), 145 (joining or continuing in unlawful assembly, knowing it has been commanded to disperse) and 440 (mischief committed after preparation made causing death or hurt) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Sections 13 (penalty for breaching sections 4, 5, 8 and 11), 20 (power to confiscate) and 65 () of the Arms Ordinance, 1965.
Sections 4, 5, 8 and 11 of the ordinance deal with the prohibition of the unlicenced sale and repair of firearms, the prohibition of transporting them, the prohibition of being armed without a licence and the power to make rules as to licences.