Pakistan election body issues arrest warrant for politician

FILE: Imran Khan (Photo By Heinrich Böll Stiftung from Berlin, Deutschland – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Konferenz_Pakistan_und_der_Westen_-_Imran_Khan_(4155877864).jpg, CC BY-SA 2.5)

ISLAMABAD — A lawyer for Imran Khan, a leading opposition figure in Pakistan, says the country’s election commission has issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of contempt.

Babar Awan said Thursday the commission has asked Khan to post bail and appear before a panel on Sept.

25 to answer charges he made indecent remarks about the body earlier this year, when he called it “biased.”

Khan says the commission lacks the authority to hold him in contempt because it isn’t a court.

Pakistan is expected to hold elections next year, and Khan, a cricket legend-turned-politician, is a potential contender to be prime minister.

He has been a vocal critic of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan as well as drone strikes in Pakistan.