Khan arrest warrant cancelled after police use bulldozers to raid house

A controversial arrest warrant against Imran Khan, the former Pakistani prime minister, was cancelled on Saturday, local time, after a day of drama in which police broke into his home using a bulldozer.

The ex-cricketing star had been facing arrest for skipping several court hearings over charges that he failed to declare gifts received during his time as premier, or the profit made from selling them.

The 70-year-old has been tangled in a slew of court cases since he was ousted in a no-confidence motion last April.

He has been pressuring the fragile coalition government which replaced him to hold early elections despite being disqualified from Parliament in October for making ‘‘false statements and incorrect declarations’’ regarding the gifts.

Last week saw Khan’s supporters fighting pitched battles with police who were sent to arrest him at his home in the eastern city of Lahore after he failed to appear in court once again.

On Saturday he finally travelled to the Islamabad court complex, but was unable to get out of his car after around 4000 supporters turned up and pelted police officers with stones and bricks. Officers responded with tear gas.

The court accepted Khan’s attendance, however, according to his lawyers. ‘‘All those who have gathered here should disperse. There is no need for shelling or pelting, the hearing cannot be held today,’’ said presiding judge

Zafar Iqbal.

The court adjourned the case until March 30 and ordered Khan to be present in person again.

It came as dozens of supporters of the former prime minister were arrested back in Lahore after police violently raided Khan’s Zaman Park residence just minutes after he left.

Hundreds of officers in riot gear cordoned off the area and bulldozered the main entrance to break into the fortified compound.

Inside, police found masks, petrolfilled bottles, iron rods and batons, according to senior police officer Suhail Sukhera, who led the operation.

Nearly 70 members of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek Insan were beaten and whisked away to police stations.