The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday night upheld the dramatic arrest of former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, saying that all legal formalities were fulfilled by the National Accountability Bureau, dashing the hopes of his party.

The court issued its reserved ruling, upsetting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which claimed the arrest was illegal and that the IHC would rule in favour of party chief Khan, 70.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq took notice of the arrest by paramilitary rangers when Khan was present inside the court to mark his biometric attendance before the start of the hearing of another case.

The IHC issued its reserved judgment about the arrest, saying that all legal formalities were fulfilled by the National Accountability Bureau, the anti-corruption watchdog while carrying out the arrest of Khan.

However, it showed resentment at the police officials and ordered them to start contempt proceedings against the Islamabad police chief and the interior secretary for violation of the sanctity of the court.

The chief justice initially ordered the interior secretary, Inspector General (IG) Police Islamabad and other officials within 15 minutes to come and respond to the arrest. He said that he was showing “restraint” in the matter and warned to summon the prime minister if the Islamabad police chief failed to appear.

“Come to court and tell us why Imran has been arrested and in which case,” Justice Farooq said.

IG Akbar Nasir Khan duly appeared before the court and said that Khan had been arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a case about him and his wife Bushra Bibi for alleged corruption.

Khan’s lawyer Faisal Chaudhry told the court that Khan was illegally arrested when he was present inside the court to record his biometric attendance, while Barrister Gohar Khan, another lawyer of Khan, claimed that Khan was hit by an iron rod on his head and his injured leg during arrest.

Khawaja Harris, another lawyer of Khan, said that the court should take action against NAB as Khan was arrested from inside the court which was a violation of the sanctity of the court.

After hearing the lawyers, the Chief Justice summoned NAB officials and took a break. When he reconvened the court, Director General NAB Rawalpindi Mirza Irfan Baig appeared along with deputy prosecutor general NAB, Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi.

Abbasi told the court that the anti-corruption watchdog was in its legal right to arrest Khan who was not joining the investigation into the case. “An accused can be arrested from any place if resistance is shown,” he said.

Advocate Harris contended the NAB argument by saying that arrest was made in violation of the rules and the court should take action. “The court should annul the arrest as it is illegal and order the NBA to set Imran Khan free immediately,” he said.

Khan was arrested when he came from Lahore to appear before the Islamabad High Court.

The Rangers broke open the glass window and arrested him after beating lawyers and Khan’s security staff.

The arrest of the cricketer-turned-politician comes a day after the powerful army accused him of levelling baseless allegations against a senior officer of the spy agency ISI.

Supporters of the former prime minister stormed the Pakistan Army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and the Corps Commander’s residence in Lahore after Khan’s dramatic arrest.

Khan has been facing a slew of cases since his ouster through a no-trust vote in April last year. He has rejected all these cases as political victimisation by the ruling alliance.

Currently, Khan has said he is facing over 140 cases related to terrorism, blasphemy, murder, violence, and inciting violence.

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