The former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan’s pre-arrest release was allowed by the Islamabad High Court on Sunday, and the court also ordered him to appear before the court in question before October 7 in a contempt case.
Following his contentious comments at a public demonstration on August 20 against Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Zeba Chaudhry and other officials, an arrest warrant was issued for the former premier.
PTI members gathered on Banigala to protest the arrest warrant that Senior Civil Judge Rana Mujahid Rahim issued on Friday and to obstruct any arrest attempts. Imran Khan‘s arrest would be seen as crossing a “red line,” the workers said, according to Dawn.
The pre-arrest bail was given to Imran Khan after he filed a petition with the Islamabad High Court on Sunday through his counsel Babar Awan. In the plea, Imran Khan said that a terrorism case was initially filed against him, however, he added that the charges were later struck down by the high court and the case was transferred.
Imran Khan accuses present Government as corrupt
He further accused the coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of filing a false case against him. Calling the government “corrupt”, Imran Khan said that all of this was only to repudiate the peaceful demonstrations.
Imran Khan’s appeal was taken up by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, who ordered the Islamabad police not to arrest him. The court also approved Imran’s bail against the provision of surety bonds totaling Rs 10,000 and ordered him to appear before the relevant court by Friday.
While speaking with the media outside the court, Imran Khan’s counsel Awan said the IHC had granted the PTI chief “pre-arrest transitory protective bail”, adding “we will turn up at the lower court before Oct 7.” “Warrants are issued to ensure the appearance of suspects before courts,” the spokesman stated.
Imran Khan’s case, the Islamabad police official, said was transferred to a session court after the Islamabad High Court removed charges of terrorism from it. Earlier, Islamabad High Court asked Imran Khan to submit an affidavit. Imran Khan submitted the affidavit stating that he had realised he “might have crossed a line” at a public rally on August 20 in the capital, ARY News reported.
The Express Tribune reported citing the affidavit said that Imran Khan assured the court that he would never do anything in future that would hurt the dignity of any court and the judiciary, especially the lower judiciary.
Notably, the magistrate of Islamabad’s Margalla Police Station issued the warrant in the case registered on August 20 against the PTI chief for threatening Additional District and Sessions judge Zeba Chaudhry.
At a rally at the F-9 park in Islamabad, the PTI chair had warned that he would “not spare” Islamabad’s inspector-general, deputy inspector general, and female magistrate, vowing to file cases against them for allegedly torturing PTI leader Shahbaz Gill.
“We will not spare the IG and DIG,” he said while addressing the rally. The former Prime Minister called out Additional District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry, who had approved Gill’s two-day physical remand at the request of the capital police, and said she, too, should prepare herself as the case will also be registered against her, reported Geo News.
