Pakistan: Court accepts plea to declare Imran Khan's sisters as absconders

In a major setback for Imran Khan, an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan approved a plea seeking to declare sisters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief — Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan — and his party leaders as “absconders” for failing to cooperate with the security forces in the ongoing probe related to the May 9 riots cases.

This came after police informed court that the PTI leaders are not complying with the investigation and are currently in hiding, despite being aware of their involvement in cases, Geo News reported.

Therefore, the police requested the court to declare them as “absconders”.

The court has initiated the process with Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan, Aslam Iqbal, Hammad Azhar, Farrukh Habib, Murad Saeed, Zubair Niazi, Hassaan Niazi, Ali Amin Gandapur, Azam Swati, Andleeb Abbas and others named in the plea, Geo News reported.

Moreover, the court has extended the judicial remand of several PTI leaders, including Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhary, and former Punjab governor Umar Sarfraz Cheema, as the police had failed to submit the challan against them.