Imran Khan is accused of failing to declare items acquired throughout his time in workplace. (File)

Lahore:

Police in Pakistan mentioned officers on Sunday tried to arrest former prime minister Imran Khan, who’s battling a number of authorized instances as he pressures the federal government for early elections.

Officers from Islamabad arrived at Mr Khan’s residence in Lahore, which was surrounded by lots of of his supporters, however have been unable to search out him.

“A group of Islamabad police has arrived in Lahore to arrest Imran Khan to adjust to the court docket orders,” Islamabad police mentioned in a tweet.

“Imran Khan is reluctant to give up — the Superintendent of Police had gone into the room however Imran Khan was not current there.”

The arrest warrant was issued after Mr Khan failed to look earlier than the court docket in a corruption case on February 28.

Imran Khan is accused of failing to declare items acquired throughout his time in workplace, or the revenue constructed from promoting them.

Authorities officers should declare all items however are allowed to maintain these under a sure worth.

The vice chairman of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf celebration, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, instructed reporters in Lahore: “We now have acquired the discover from Islamabad police — the discover doesn’t include any order for the arrest.”

“We’ll seek the advice of our attorneys and observe the authorized course of”.

Pakistan’s courts are sometimes used to tie up lawmakers in tedious and long-winding proceedings that rights displays have criticised for stifling political opposition.

Imran Khan, who was shot throughout a rally final yr, has tried to disrupt politics within the South Asian nation since he was compelled out of workplace in a no-confidence vote in April.

He has been pushing for early polls due no later than October by holding protests, pulling out of parliament and dissolving the 2 provincial assemblies his celebration controls in a bid to power the federal government’s hand.

The nation of greater than 220 million is in dire financial straits with runaway inflation, scant overseas alternate reserves and stalling bailout talks with the IMF.

To tug the nation out of its spiral, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is battling to revive the subsequent tranche of a $6.5 billion mortgage deal sketched with the Worldwide Financial Fund in 2019.

(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)