An anti-terrorism court in Islamabad on Thursday approved the interim bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief 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, which he stated was “the legal right of any Pakistani leader and citizen”.
“Charging [Imran] with terrorism is disrespectful to those that have been fighting in the war against terror and those who lost their lives to it,” he said.
“Pakistan has become a joke in front of the international community, where one is charged with terrorism over a political speech”.
Expressing solidarity with the PTI chief, Umar said that “the struggle for true freedom will succeed”.
PTI supporters and workers had also gathered outside the court in an expression of “solidarity” with their leader, chanting slogans in his support.
Meanwhile, strict security arrangements were put in place in the surrounding area of the Judicial Commission, with roads closed for traffic on all sides of the compound. Unauthorised persons were not permitted to enter the court premises while media persons were also denied access.
According to security officials, 400 police and FC officials were deployed. The police said that they have been directed not to allow anyone to enter the judicial complex without official orders.
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.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday constituted a larger bench to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Imran after granting him protective bail till August 25. The court had also directed him to submit surety bonds worth Rs5,000 and approach the anti-terrorism court till August 25 (today).
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had said that the government would arrest Imran if his bail plea were rejected by the court.
In case his bail was confirmed, then authorities would submit a challan regarding hurling threats at a female judge, he had stated while talking to a private news channel on Wednesday night.
Sanaullah said threatening a judge and high police officials was a criminal act and added that the PTI chief was nominated in several cases, but three were important. The interior minister said maintenance of peace in the country was the government’s top priority.
Thus far, however, the government has given mixed signals on its decision regarding the arrest of the PTI chief and appeared to be maintaining a 'smoke and screens' line on whether it wanted the former prime minister behind the bars or not.
While asserting that they wouldn’t deign to invest energies into political vendetta, the leading lights of the constituent parties of the coalition, however, had seemed to agree to give their blessings to anything that took place with the "due legal course".
Earlier this week, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb had said that the coalition government doesn’t waste time in the meetings by discussing if PTI chief Imran Khan should be arrested or not in connection with threatening a sitting judge and the top cop of the capital.
The government’s spokesperson had said that the PML-N-led government was not similar to the PTI-led government, saying the incumbent government won’t resort to the tactics that PTI did in its four years, especially, arresting its opponents.