The Islamabad High Court awarded Imran Khan, a former prime minister of Pakistan, a two-week bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
A day after the Supreme Court deemed Imran Khan’s custody “invalid and unlawful,” the Islamabad High Court on Friday granted him a two-week bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
The 70-year-old Khan, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, showed up in front of the same court from where he was pulled and taken into custody on Tuesday. Khan, however, stayed in court after the decision was rendered while his lawyers requested the judges for similar protection in a number of other corruption cases, hoping to eliminate a legal pretext for the government to detain him once more. Khan’s lead lawyer, Babar Awan, praised the decision and declared his client to be “a free man.”
The government claims that Khan’s release rewards and promotes mob violence.
His supporters damaged military posts, set fire to cars, ambulances, and general shops, among other things, as a result of the detention, which sparked widespread protests across the nation. In response, the government sent a crackdown that resulted in around 3,000 arrests. At least 10 Khan supporters were killed in the clashes. Over 200 police officers as well as dozens of protesters sustained injuries.
The court hearing on Friday was one in a succession of complex legal tactics. The Pakistan Supreme Court ruled that Khan’s detention was illegal on Thursday, but it then requested that the Islamabad High Court review its earlier judgement to support the arrest. The Supreme Court declared that it will abide by any decisions made by the Islamabad court. If the high court affirmed its earlier judgement, the government has stated that it will swiftly re-arrest Khan.
According to reports, a team from the Lahore Police had departed for Islamabad to arrest Khan in connection with many cases that had been brought against him in the Punjab state.
The chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party is wanted for questioning, according to a report from the joint investigative team looking into cases against Khan. Khan is accused of treason, blasphemy, instigating violence and terrorism, and more in 121 instances around the nation.
The high court has been transformed into a fortress, with the Police and Frontier Corps stationed outside. Hundreds of security police in riot gear surrounding the courthouse, and barbed wire was put at the entrance. Shipping containers were erected all around the court area to shut it off.
The professional security plans were established in response to Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), calling for its cadre to converge on the Srinagar motorway for ‘peaceful’ protests.
Imran Khan, the former prime minister, is not accused in the Toshakhana case, according to the Islamabad High Court
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan was charged in the Toshakhana case on Friday, but the Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted a stay order, according to ARY News.
Following his arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case from the grounds of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday, Imran Khan was indicted in the Toshakhana case on Wednesday, according to ARY News.
The hearing was presided over by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq of the Islamabad High Court. In his arguments before the court, Khan’s lawyer Khawaja Haris claimed that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not file a complaint against his client in accordance with the law.
The complaint cannot be continued after the deadline has passed, he noted. The IHC CJ questioned Khawaja Haris, “What did the session judge hearing the case say regarding reservations raised by you?” The court noted that the case is not admissible for hearing and that we shall observe the issue during the recording of the statements in the case.
According to ARY News, the IHC CJ granted a stay order on the indictment and instructed the sessions court to suspend the criminal proceedings in the Toshakhana case against Imran Khan after hearing arguments from Imran Khan’s lawyer.
With a warrant issued by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Al-Qadir Trust case, Pakistan Rangers arrested Imran on Tuesday outside the Islamabad High Court.
Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, and others were the subject of a NAB inquiry over the suspected acquisition of hundreds of canals of land in the name of the Al Qadir University Trust, which resulted in an estimated loss to the national exchequer of 190 million pounds.
The former prime minister was ordered to be released “immediately” after the supreme court ruled that his arrest was “illegal”. Soon after, the party members and supporters praised the court’s judgement.
