IHC grants interim bail to Imran in seven cases till April 6

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday granted interim bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in seven different cases till April 6, Geo News reported.

A bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the bail application of the former prime minister. The PTI chief had arrived at the IHC from Lahore to seek pre-arrest bail in different cases registered against him in Islamabad following vandalism at the judicial complex during his last visit to the federal capital.

Multiple cases were registered against the former prime minister at Islamabad’s Ramna, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and Golra police stations. At the outset of the hearing, Khan’s lawyer Barrister Salman Safdar contended that the objection related to bio-metric verification shouldn’t be imposed on individuals above the age of 60.

At this, Justice Farooq remarked that the bio-metric verification had become very easy now. The lawyer maintained they had acquired PTI chief’s protective bail from Lahore High Court (LHC) after which they arrived at the judicial complex but they weren’t allowed to move further. “More FIRs against Khan were lodged that day,” he added.

At this, Justice Farooq asked the lawyer to clarify why had they bypassed a forum to reach the IHC. “Why didn’t you go to the trial court first when you have to go there ultimately,” he asked. At this, the lawyer maintained he would present Supreme Court’s judgements in this regard.

After this, Khan stood up to proceed to the rostrum, however, Justice Farooq directed him to stay seated. Responding to the argument of Khan’s lawyer, the IHC chief justice said the security threats to the former premier must be genuine as he had been attacked once.

Justice Hassan remarked the court had asked the chief election commissioner several times to provide security to Khan. At this, Islamabad Advocate-General Jahangir Jadoon said the trial court was shifted to the judicial complex from F8 katchehri court.

“Khan has the responsibility to ensure a peaceful environment. He didn’t even get off the car and people burned cars,” he said. At this, Justice Farooq remarked what the petitioner would do if the administration gave irresponsible statements.

“They [PTI] will arrange their own security if you [administration] don’t provide it. Two prime ministers of the country had been assassinated and one was attacked,” he remarked. The court then granted interim bail to Khan, after which the PTI chairman left the high court.

Earlier, as the PTI chief moved towards Islamabad, a petition was filed in the IHC by his lawyers seeking pre-arrest bail in the multiple cases registered in different police stations of the federal capital.

The plea urged the court to stop the federal government from arresting the PTI chief in those cases, adding the cases had been registered for “political revenge”. However, the registrar office of the court attached objections to the petition as the plea lacked the PTI chief’s biometric.

“How can a petition be filed in a high court before [it is filed] in a trial court,” asked the registrar office. Later, when the PTI chief arrived at the premises his biometric was conducted. The biometric objection was then removed and the plea was admitted for hearing with other objections.

When Geo News asked the PTI chief if he was satisfied with the security arrangements, Khan responded: “There is no security, it is our security”.On a query about political dialogue, the former prime minister refused to speak about it.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad police tweeted that an important meeting was chaired by the inspector-general over the expected court appearance of PTI chief Khan to discuss security arrangements.

According to the tweet, senior officers, including the deputy inspector general (DIG) and senior superintendent of police (SSP), Operations, attended the meeting despite being injured. It was decided that field supervision of security arrangements will be taken care of by SSP Yasir Afridi.

A central control room had been established at the Safe City Headquarters, the Islamabad police shared. Besides, Section 144 had been enforced in Islamabad and in light of court orders, only concerned persons were to be allowed to enter the court premises, the police tweeted.