PTI chief moves LHC against 100 FIRs registered by police n Asks court to restrain authorities from taking ‘coercive measures’ against him n Imran Khan fears Zaidi, Gandapur ‘will be subjected to custodial torture’ n Federal govt files petition for early hearing of contempt case against Imran.

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD     -    A Lahore High Court (LHC) di­vision bench on Monday sent a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chair­man Imran Khan against reg­istration of cases against him across the country to the Chief Justice with a request to fix the same before a full bench.

The bench noted that it had already sent an identical peti­tion to the full bench for hear­ing. The division bench com­prising Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh and Justice Farooq Haider heard the petition, whereas PTI Chairman Im­ran Khan also remained pres­ent during the proceedings. Imran Khan had approached the court against registra­tion of more than 100 cases against him. He also plead­ed with the court to restrain the authorities from taking coercive measures against him. Meanwhile in a tweet late Monday, the PTI lead­er condemned the arrest of Ali Zaidi and Gandapur. “To­tally condemnatory how Ali Zaidi & Ali Amin are being kept in custody on sham FIRs & we fear both, like Swati & Gill earlier, will be subjected to custodial torture. Cabal of crooks & their handlers have made a complete mockery of Constitution, Rule of Law, Court orders & democra­cy simply to fulfill nefarious London Plan. Our social me­dia activist Waqas Amjad was abducted & severe custodi­al torture was inflicted upon him before being released. Institutions are destroyed, economy has nosedived & fundamental rights are be­ing trampled with impu­nity. Also, the Federal Gov­ernment on Monday filed a petition before the Supreme Court, seeking early hearing in the contempt of court case against Imran Khan. The fed­eral government prayed the court to fix the case for hear­ing on April 26. According to the brief of case, a petition was filed against Imran Khan for disregarding the Order of the court dated 25.05.2022. The Islamabad High Court Bar Association sought a di­rection not to cause any hin­drance in the free movement of the citizens of Pakistan in any part of the country. The high court had directed that the PTI be allowed to hold a gathering at the ground lo­cated between Sector H-9 and G-9 in view of the cate­gorical assurance on behalf of the top leadership of the PTI that their rally would not cause any inconvenience or blockage of Sri Nagar High­way; nor otherwise inconve­nience the public and citizen­ry at large but the respondent did not comply with the said Order, the Chairman PTI ex­horted his supporters to reach D-Chowk.