ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Saturday issued arrest warrants for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in a liquor and illegal weapons recovery case.

The federal capital’s court ordered the authorities concerned to arrest and produce Gandapur after rejecting the KP chief executive’s request for exemption from personal appearance.

At the outset of the hearing, the judge granted the final opportunity to the firebrand politician to record his statement under Section 342.

It also warned that the court may issue a verdict in his absence, and failure to do so could forfeit his right to record the statement.

The court directed that Gandapur be produced before July 21 and emphasised that authorities should not face failure in executing the arrest order.

The order read that the case had been pending for eight years, and the prosecution recorded testimonies of witnesses since May last year. Expressing displeasure over Gandapur’s absence in the hearing, the court said that the KP CM was deliberately avoiding recording his statement.

It added that the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) ruling does not prevent the court from issuing arrest warrants in the matter.

The court added that the Peshawar High Court’s earlier decision does not prevent this court from issuing arrest warrants in the matter.

The hearing was adjourned till July 21.

This development comes a week after KP CM Gandapur announced launching the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s “do-or-die” protest movement from Lahore.

The former ruling party had formally launched its anti-government campaign, set to reach its “peak” by August 5, following the directives of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan.