Imran Khan granted protective bail in terror case

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday granted the protective bail to former prime minister and Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan in a terrorism case lodged against him by the PLMN led coalition government.

The ATC approved the interim bail of the PTI chairman until September 01 against a surety bond of Rs100,000 and directed him to appear before the court again.

During the hearing, Imran’s lawyer Babar Awan contended before the court that the PTI chief had stated that he will lodge cases against the Islamabad police IG and his deputies.

“Imran Khan did not say that he will kill someone,” Awan added.

Advocate Babar Awan further said that magistrate Ali Javed has become a complainant in the case which claimed that three people have been threatened including IG Islamabad, AIG Islamabad and a female magistrate.

“None of the three have become a complainant in the case,” he said and lamented how police registered a terrorism case against Imran Khan.

عمران خان عدالت پہنچ گئے- #عمران_خان_ہماری_ریڈ_لائن pic.twitter.com/acWkDHpCF2

— PTI (@PTIofficial) August 25, 2022

Security was on high alert around the judicial complex. Frontier Corps and Islamabad police personnel had been deployed with batons and wearing anti-rioting gears.

However, PTI workers have been able to break the walk through gate leading inside.

Earlier, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has made it clear that Imran will be arrested if the ATC rejects his bail plea.

Last week, Imran was booked under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (punishment for acts of terrorism) regarding his comments during his Islamabad rally.

The first information report (FIR) was registered at Islamabad’s Margalla police station under the complaint of magistrate Ali Javed.

The FIR argued that Imran’s speech was meant to terrorize the top police officials and the judiciary so they could not perform their functions and abstain from pursuing any action against any PTI-related individual(s) if required to do so.

The magistrate argued that Imran’s speech had spread fear and uncertainty among the police, judges, and the nation. It stated that country’s peace had been harmed and legal action should be pursued against the accused and exemplary punishment to be meted out.

On Monday, Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted three-day pre-arrest bail to the former prime minister in the terror case filed against him.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad police on Tuesday registered another case against former Prime Minister Imran Khan and other leaders of his party for allegedly violating Section 144 in the capital on August 20. Murad Saeed, Faisal Javed Khan, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Asad Umar, Raja Khurram Nawaz, Ali Nawaz Awan, Faisal Vawda, Shahzad Wasim, Sadaqat Ali Abbasi, Shibli Faraz, Fawad Chaudhry, Saifullah Khan Niazi, Shehryar Afridi, Fayyazul Hasan Chohan, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Asad Qaiser, Zaheer Abbas Khokar and Major Ghulam Sarwar were the other PTI leaders nominated in the FIR.

The FIR added that during the rally, the Islamabad police had made announcements via loudspeakers that Section 144 had been imposed in the city and a ban had been imposed on rallies.

Earlier, in a petition filed by PTI lawyer Faisal Chaudhry and Babar Awan, the former PM said that he had no criminal record and had never been convicted.

The PTI chairman maintained that he was ready to appear before the court whenever summoned.