LAHORE: PTI Chairman Imran Khan told the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday that he had arrived for the hearing in a vehicle no one knew about as the court took up the former prime minister’s contempt petition against police operation at his Zaman Park residence on March 18.

Imran arrived at the LHC at around 1pm today. The PTI chairman was accompanied by aide Fawad Chaudhry and party lawyers.

As the hearing commenced, LHC’s Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh inquired about the guards present in court along with Imran to which Chaudhry replied that they were a part of Imran’s “personal security”.

Separately, a two-member LHC bench comprising Justice Shehbaz Rizvi and Justice Farooq Haider will hear Imran’s petitions seeking protective bail in two terrorism cases registered against him in Islamabad following clashes at the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC) on Saturday.

Hours-long clashes were reported between PTI workers and the capital police on Saturday after former prime minister Imran Khan arrived at the Federal Judicial Complex to attend a hearing in the Toshakhana case on March 18.

Subsequently, two first information reports (FIRs) were registered at the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and the Golra police stations in the capital against Imran and other PTI supporters.

The complaints accused the PTI chief and party workers of being involved in attacking police and creating unrest outside the FJC in Islamabad last week.

On Monday, the former prime minister filed two petitions in the LHC through Barrister Salman Safdar. In them, Imran sought protective bail to “enable him to surrender and approach the competent court having jurisdiction to entertain the bail petition”.

“The petitioner is currently residing at his Zaman Park residence which is surrounded by police to effect the unlawful arrest. It is petitioner’s fundamental right that he be allowed to approach and personally appear before this court and a strict direction be issued to authorities to enable the petitioner to approach without any mischief by the police,” the plea added.

During the hearing on Monday, the bench had directed the lawyer of PTI chairman Imran Khan to ensure the appearance of his client in the court at 2:15pm today if he wanted the court to hear petitions.

Earlier, the police presented a report in court, which said that six cases were lodged against Imran in Punjab. Three of these FIRs were registered at Lahore’s Race Course police station, while others were filed at Sarwar Road police station, Rawalpindi’s New Airport police station and Faisalabad’s Madina Town police station.

However, Justice Sheikh instructed the police to submit details of cases against Imran registered by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIR) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as well.

The judge also inquired about the dates of the FIRs and if the report included all the latest complaints as well, saying that “FIRs are being lodged every day”.

The police replied that the report included all the FIRs lodged until yesterday.

“What is the issue in providing all the details? Today is the time of [using] WhatsApp … you can find everything within a minute,” the judge remarked and then adjourned the hearing till 1pm.