Former Prime Minister Imran Khan got a major relief on May 23 when an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan granted him bail till June 8 in eight cases of violence erupted at the Judicial Complex in March.
The cases were registered in different police stations of Islamabad against 70-year-old Mr. Khan after clashes erupted between police and his supporters when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief appeared before a court in the Judicial Complex on March 18.
The clashes erupted when Mr. Khan attended a much-awaited hearing in the Toshakhana corruption case.
During the confrontation, over 25 security personnel were injured.
On May 23, Mr. Khan travelled from Lahore to the capital, Islamabad, to appear before the anti-terrorism court located in the Judicial Complex.
After hearing arguments by lawyers, the court granted him bail in eight cases till June 8, his party said in a message.
Established in 1974, the Toshakhana is a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division. It stores precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials by heads of other governments, states, and foreign dignitaries.
Mr. Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, was disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan in October last year for not sharing sales details.
Meanwhile, an accountability court in Islamabad stopped the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting PTI chief Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, in the Al-Qadir Trust case by granting her interim bail.
The former first lady’s lawyer Khawaja Haris appeared before the court and applied for Ms. Bibi’s interim bail.
During the hearing, Mr. Haris informed the court that Ms. Bibi did not receive any notice from the anti-graft body. Subsequently, the court accepted the bail application till May 31 and notified NAB to seek its reply.
Judge Muhammad Basheer also directed Mr. Khan’s wife to deposit a surety bond of ₹0.5 million.
On May 15, a Lahore High Court Division Bench granted protective bail to the PTI chief’s wife until May 23 in the Al-Qadir Trust case. It was the first appearance by the former first lady in court to attend proceedings in a case lodged against her.
The deposed Prime Minister is already on bail till May 31 in the trust case.
The Al-Qadir Trust case is the same case in which Mr. Khan was arrested on May 9, and hours before announcing his decision to visit NAB on May 23, he said that he might be arrested again and urged his followers to stay calm.
“I urge people to remain peaceful because if you get violent, they will get a chance to crack down again. We always have to protest peacefully,” he said during a session on Twitter Spaces last night.
