Imran Khan fled Zaman Park on police's arrival: Rana Sanaullah

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has claimed that former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan had jumped his residence’s wall and fled to evade arrest, ARY News reported on Monday.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the interior minister said that yesterday, a team of Islamabad police visited Imran Khan’s residence. “Rumours claimed that he [Khan] jumped his residence’s wall to evade arrest,” he said.

Rana Sanaullah noted that if the police wanted to arrest the PTI chairman, this wasn’t an appropriate strategy. “The police went there to inform him about the court’s orders,” he said, adding that the police team faced a lot of drama.

The minister added that when authorities want to arrest and present him before the court, they will do so without hesitation. “The government has no desire in arresting him [Khan], but he should ensure his appearance before the courts,” he added.

The minister’s comments came after the Islamabad police a day earlier reached former prime minister Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence to arrest him after his non-bailable arrest warrant was issued by the Islamabad sessions court in the Toshakhana case.

Additional sessions judge Zafar Iqbal of an Islamabad court had issued the former prime minister’s non-bailable arrest warrant on February 28.

In a series of tweets, the Islamabad police said the former premier is avoiding arrest.

ARY News suspension

The interior minister also reacted to Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s (PEMRA) move to suspend transmission of ARY News, saying that he was not in favour of ‘pick and choose’ policy.

“PEMRA should issue an explanation for suspending ARY News transmission only,” he said, asking that why action was taken against only one channel if everyone committed the violation.

However, Rana Sanaullah said, the regulatory authority has the right to follow its instructions.

A day earlier,  the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) suspended the licence of the ARY News for broadcasting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s statement in the headline slot of 9:00 pm.

Other television channels also aired Imran Khan’s statement but discriminatory action was taken against the ARY News by the electronic media authority.

Terrorism

The Interior Minister reiterated the government’s resolve to spare no effort to root out terrorism from the country. He said the whole nation is grieved at the latest terrorist attack on a Balochistan Constabulary vehicle in Sibbi that claimed lives of nine people.

Rana Sanaullah pointed out that thirteen personnel were injured who have been shifted to Quetta and three out of them are critical.

He said the federal government is in regular contact with the Balochistan government and will extend all out support to them in fighting terrorism.

The Minister said despite all economic restraints faced by the country and austerity measures, there will be no cut down in the resources of our law enforcement agencies at federal or provincial level.

He said the whole nation stands united alongside our security forces to extirpate the menace of terrorism forever.