- Judicial Magistrate directs Gandapur’s arrest, orders appearance on Sept 17
- Rejects Gandapur lawyer’s plea for suspending warrant, saying ‘present the accused, I’ll withdraw’
- Case dates back to 2016 recovery of arms, liquor, and bulletproof vest near Bani Gala
ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in the federal capital on Wednesday reissued an arrest warrant for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in an illegal arms and liquor case after he failed to appear before the court.
The case dates back to October 2016, when Islamabad police claimed they recovered five Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol, six magazines, a bulletproof vest, alcohol, and three tear gas shells from Gandapur’s vehicle outside Bani Gala.
Gandapur, however, denied the allegations, maintaining that he was travelling with two licensed Kalashnikovs and a valid arms licence, while insisting that the liquor bottle in question actually contained honey.
Judicial Magistrate Mubashir Hassan Chishti directed the police to arrest the KP chief minister and produce him before the court on September 17. The order was issued after no representative appeared on Gandapur’s behalf.
Later, Gandapur’s lawyer Raja Zahoorul Hassan appeared in court and sought suspension of the warrant. The judge, however, rejected the plea, remarking, “If you present the accused, I will withdraw the warrant.”
The warrant was issued under Sections 143, 144, 145, and 440 of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Sections 13, 20, and 65 of the Arms Ordinance, 1965. These provisions deal with unlawful assemblies, use of deadly weapons, mischief causing potential harm, penalties for breaching arms laws, confiscation powers, and licensing rules.
This is not the first such order against the KP CM. On July 19, the same court issued an arrest warrant after his failure to appear. The warrant was later withdrawn on July 29 when Gandapur attended the hearing, with the court noting that his official responsibilities as chief minister had hindered his presence.
Speaking to the media outside the courtroom at the time, Gandapur dismissed the allegations as “politically motivated.”
“There is nothing in this case. I wasn’t even present when it was filed, and the vehicle in question wasn’t mine,” he said.
“These are false, fabricated cases meant to pressure us. But we are not afraid and have always respected the law.”
