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Khan would soon go to a court in the city of Lahore to "support
his plea against his arrest warrant and police action", the
aide, Fawad Chaudhry, told Reuters .
The legal proceedings against the former cricket star began
after he was ousted from office in a parliamentary vote early
last year.
Since then, Khan, 70, has been demanding a snap election and
holding protests across the country. He was shot and wounded at
one of those rallies.
Current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has rejected Khan's
demands, saying an election would be held as scheduled later
this year.
The political wrangling comes as nuclear-armed Pakistan
struggles with an economic crisis. It is awaiting a bailout
package of $1.1 billion from the IMF.
The warrant for Khan's arrest was issued by a court in the
capital, Islamabad, when he failed to appear over charges that
he unlawfully sold state gifts given to him by foreign
dignitaries when he was prime minister from 2018 to 2022. Khan
denies the charges.
The Election Commission of Pakistan had found Khan guilty and
barred him from holding public office for one parliamentary
term.
Attempts to arrest Khan for failing to show up for the case have
this week triggered angry outburts by his supporters who hurled
petrol bombs at the security forces who responded with tear gas
and water cannon.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad and Gibran Peshimam; writing by Miral
Fahmy; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, Robert Birsel)
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