Terrorism case, Anti-Terrorism Court approves Imran’s bail till September 1
ISLAMABAD, August 25 (SABAH): An anti-terrorism court on Thursday approved the interim bail of Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and former premier Imran Khan after he appeared before the court in a terrorism case registered against him.
Imran was booked in a terrorism case late Saturday on the complaint of Islamabad Saddar Magistrate Ali Javed for threatening the additional sessions judge of the federal capital, Zeba Chaudhry, and police officials.
The former prime minister’s bail was approved against a surety bond of Rs100,000 and he was ordered to appear before the court on September 1.
However, the court rejected a request by PTI counsel Babar Awan for an extended bail. He prayed the PTI chief is contesting elections in nine constituencies. The court stated that it is granting interim bail till September 1 for now.
The PTI chairman, addressing the media after his bail approval, said he had been charged because “they [govt] are afraid of the PTI’s popularity” which was “winning by-elections across the country.”
“This is their attempt at a technical knockout,” he said, before adding “whatever decisions they are taking, they should think of the country first.”
PTI’s Fawad Chaudhry said that the party will proceed to “move the high court for quashing” the charges against Imran and remained confident that “the FIR will be cancelled.”
He further expressed hope that “by September 10, we will rid ourselves of this government.”
PTI leader Asad Umar, speaking to the media, defended Imran’s statements against a female judge and police officials and said that the PTI chairman had “clearly said we will take legal action” against them.
Soon after securing relief from the ATC, Imran appeared before Additional Session Judge Zaffar Abbas in Islamabad where his request for protective bail was granted in the Section 144 case registered against PTI leaders after a political rally in the area.
The court also granted Asad’s interim bail request in the same case in lieu of a surety bond of Rs5,000.
A heavy contingent of police and FC were deployed at the F8 judicial complex. The court summoned the police along with the records on September 7.
The PTI chief had alleged that Additional Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry knew that Gill was tortured, but she did not release him on bail. He threatened that he would take legal action against the judge and the inspector general of Islamabad Police.
Several sentences from Imran’s speech had been made part of the FIR. It said that Imran Khan’s speech in this design and style was aimed at spawning fear and panic among the police authorities, the judiciary and the public.