The Islamabad High Court has approved former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s protective bail in seven terror cases, directing him to move to anti-terrorism court within 10 days for permanent bail, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) pronounced the verdict which it reserved earlier on Thursday. The court also extended Imran Khan's interim bail in two other cases.
Imran Khan appeared before the IHC on the orders of a two-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, on Thursday amid tight security.
A day earlier, Imran Khan had failed to appear before the IHC. Hearing his bail plea in nine cases, the IHC had granted him a day’s time for appearance, warning that bail pleas will be rejected if he failed to appear in court.
At one point during the hearing on Thursday, Imran Khan came to the rostrum and revealed that he had informed the five-member bench at Lahore High Court about the person who can harm him. “If I take his name, none of the newspapers will publish that,” he said.
In an informal conversation after the two-member bench left the courtroom, Imran Khan replied to a journalist’s question regarding meetings with American diplomats. “We want good relations with everybody,” the PTI chief said.
PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Secretary General Asad Umar, party leaders Fawad Chaudhry, Saifullah Niazi, Ali Muhammad Khan, Babar Awan, Imran Ismail and Malaeka Bokhari were among the PTI members present inside the courtroom.
Only permitted persons were allowed inside the IHC — including Imran’s 15 lawyers, 10 lawyers from the advocate general’s and attorney general’s offices and 30 members of the High Court Journalists’ Association.
On Thursday morning, Imran Khan left Lahore for Islamabad for his appearance in court in connection with the nine cases.
The divisional bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) had hinted at cancelling Imran Khan’s post-arrest bail over non-appearance.
The IHC divisional bench had earlier extended Imran Khan’s post-arrest bail by one day.
A two-member bench, headed by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, will hear the case in Islamabad today.
A number of PTI workers also left for Islamabad with Imran Khan from Zaman Park.
On Wednesday, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq had ordered Imran Khan to appear before the court on Thursday, otherwise, his interim bail will be rejected. A two-judge IHC bench headed by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and comprising Justice Miangul Hassan heard the case filed by Imran Khan seeking court order to halt legal proceedings on all the cases registered against him. However, Imran Khan did not appear before the court today.
During the hearing, the PTI chief’s lawyer Salman Safdar submitted an application seeking exemption of his client from the court appearance on medical grounds. Chief Justice Farooq remarked that Imran submitted a medical report of a private hospital while the court does not accept private hospitals’ reports in criminal cases.
The lawyer contended that cases are being registered against his client in bulk and we do not know how on earth we could appear in so many cases.
The CJ remarked that Imran is neither appearing before the courts nor does he participate in the police investigation.
While accepting Imran’s exemption plea, the CJ ordered him to appear in the court tomorrow, otherwise his interim bail will be cancelled.
Reporter: Rana Faran Yamin