Khawaja Asif sees Imran Khan 'scared', says govt has no plans to arrest him

• Asif says Imran Khan attempting to exert pressure on judiciary, institutions.
• Says Imran Khan continues to be "a tower of arrogance."
• Says govt won't abuse judiciary but defend ECP members if threatened.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has accused Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan of creating chaos during his nearly four years in power and continuing to be "a tower of arrogance." However, he stated that the government has no plans to arrest him.

In a fresh round of criticism, the former premier slammed the state institutions after his party's senior leader, Fawad Chaudhry, was arrested in a sedition case.

Imran Khan's voice registered fear today, he said, speaking on the Geo News programme "Aaj Shazeb Khanzada Kay Sath" on Wednesday. 

The minister claimed that Imran Khan is attempting to exert pressure on the judiciary and other institutions. He said that the judiciary and institutions that Khan had been abusing, are the same institutions that supported him to get to the topmost ministry. 

The PML-N minister said that if the judiciary grants bail to Fawad Chaudhry, the government would have no problem with that. However, he mentioned, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is the plaintiff in this case.

Asif rubbished the claims of the government's involvement in Fawad's arrest, saying that unlike the Imran Khan-led era, neither the National Accountability Bureau chairman was called from the Prime Minister's Secretariat, nor was Bashir Memon summoned and asked to lodge a case. 

The defence minister also stressed that the government will not abuse the law as Khan did during his time in power. However, he said that they will defend the members of Election Commission if they are threatened. 

Fawad Chaudhry sent on two-day physical remand

A district and sessions court in Islamabad late on Wednesday night approved a two-day physical remand of former minister Fawad Chaudhry in a sedition case. 

The PTI leader was presented before the court in the federal capital after over 12 hours of drama surrounding his arrest from his Lahore residence in the wee hours of Wednesday, for publicly "threatening" the members of the ECP and their families in a media talk.

After obtaining transitional remand from a court in Punjab's capital, the Islamabad police shifted the ex-information minister to Islamabad, where he was presented before the H-8 court.

The police had sought an eight-day physical remand of Fawad, however, the court did not approve their request and asked the authorities to present the PTI leader on January 27.

Following the order, the capital's police shifted the former federal information minister to the Counter-Terrorism Department's (CTD) complex in Sector H-11.

The police — during the time that the verdict was reserved — also took Fawad to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), where he underwent a medical checkup and was declared fit.

The former federal minister has vehemently denied all charges and demanded the case's dismissal as it is "fraud and the FIR is a sham".

Fawad's lawyers told the court that the charges were politically motivated and since the PTI leader made the statements in Lahore, his case should have been registered in the city and not Islamabad.