Contempt of court filed against Imran Khan

Islamabad, May 26 (Bureau) Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif led-government on Thursday filed a contempt of court case against former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Supreme Court over the violation of the top court’s orders during the ‘Azadi March’. The move came after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) openly defied the SC’s directives, announcing to hold a rally at D-Chowk in Islamabad’s prohibited Red Zone, Geo News reported. The apex court has accepted the plea and constituted a larger bench to hear the matter. On Wednesday, PTI supporters had clashed with the police when they entered Punjab province after removing barriers at Attock Bridge. Later, the activists succeeded in forcing their way into the capital’s D Chowk, according to local media reports.

Imran Khan, who was on his way to the chowk, during a brief stop over said his supporters would not vacate D-Chowk in Islamabad until a date for elections was announced by the government. The PTI supporters were responding to Imran Khan’s call for a long march onto the capital. The PTI chairman had asked, in a video message, ‘all Pakistanis’ to take to the streets in their respective cities and said people heading to Islamabad. Ahead of Imran Khan’s address at Islamabad’s D-Chowk, the protests took a violent turn as they clashed with the police. During the violence, some party workers had also started pelting stones on the office building of Jang and Geo News. According to Geo News, as a result of the attack, some media workers sustained injuries, the windows of the newsroom were left shattered, and DSNG vans belonging to the media group were also damaged.