IHC bars authorities from arresting Imran Khan in any case till May 15

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Friday got total relief from the Islamabad High Court as the authorities have been barred from arresting the deposed prime minister in any case till Monday morning (May 15), reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Earlier, the Islamabad High Court's two-member special divisional bench approved the interim bail of PTI Chairman and for two weeks in the Al Qadir Trust corruption case.

Later, the court also ordered authorities not to arrest Imran Khan in any case registered after May 9. This decision will be applicable only within the limits of Islamabad territory, the court said. 

The court remarked that on the next hearing, the case will be heard and the verdict will be announced.

Meanwhile, the court has also granted a 10-day bail to Imran Khan in the Zille Shah murder case while the hearings for bail in the other cases are still under process. The IHC also approved 10-day protective bail in three cases registered in Lahore. The IHC also stopped arresting the former premier in any case till Monday including those he is not aware of.

A division bench comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz heard the case.

The case was adjourned earlier as a lawyer in the courtroom raised slogans in favour of Imran Khan prompting the court to halt the hearing at once.

The court adjourned the hearing of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s bail plea in the Al-Qadir Trust case until after Friday prayers. The hearing was already begun after a nearly two-hour delay with media reporting that officials were conducting a security sweep outside courtroom 2.

Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb remarked that how they could proceed if the lawyers would behave like this. He deferred the hearing until after Juma prayers. “Such an attitude is totally unacceptable,” he added.

The angry judges rose for the break after the lawyers raised more slogans.

In reaction, Imran Khan’s legal team said the lawyer who raised the slogans was not a member of PTI chief’s team and he should be arrested.

However, when the court resumed hearing after the Friday prayers break, Imran’s lawyer Khawaja Haris started giving his arguments. 

He said that Imran was arrested from the biometric branch of the court on May 9. He said that the Al Qadir Trust corruption case inquiry was suddenly changed into an investigation in order to arrest Imran Khan immediately. If there is some material, only then the NAB could change the investigation into an inquiry, he argued. 

Haris said that the NAB even could not send us the questionnaire, it just asked us to provide some information. 

He went on to say that in the Toshakhana case, we were sent a notice like this, which he had challenged in court and the court declared the NAB notice illegal. 

The Islamabad advocate general said that due to violent incidents, the Army was called in under Article 245 and the high court could not hear cases like this if Article 245 has been invoked.

Justice Miangul wondered if martial law has been imposed here. Should we make all writ petitions ineffective due to Article 245, the judge asked. 

NAB Prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi objected that Imran Khan never appeared before the anti-graft watchdog, while his co-accused including Zulfi Bukhari, Faisal Vawda, Mian Muhammad Soomro and another person joined the inquiry. However, ex-SAPM Shahzad Akbar was sent a notice but he did not join the enquiry.

After hearing arguments, the court granted interim bail for two weeks to the PTI chairman and stopped NAB from arresting him. 

The Islamabad High Court also issued a notice to the NAB and sought its reply.

Justice Aurangzeb told the NAB prosecution that in the next hearing the court will hear the arguments and decide to grant or reject the bail.

Khawaja Haris told the court that he has got a copy of the inquiry in the Al-Qadir Trust case, and he also got the inquiry report in the case of Bushra Bibi.

The court adjourned the hearing for two weeks. 

PTI chief produced in court

Earlier, Imran Khan was produced in the Islamabad High Court today after the Supreme Court declared unlawful his arrest that triggered deadly clashes across the country.

The former prime minister was brought to Islamabad High Court with a tight security net around him a little before Friday noon.

DIG Operations Shahzad Nadeem Bukhari led the convoy for Imran Khan’s security.

A high alert was sounded which prompted the authorities to provide anti-riot kits, rubber bullets and tear-gas shells to security personnel.

Police and FC personnel were deployed in Islamabad with order to use tear-gas shells if political activists gather for protest.

Earlier, Imran Khan reached the same diary branch to get his biometrics done from where he was arrested on Tuesday by the paramilitary troops. 

TV footages showed that strict security measures were taken as police and Rangers officials were deployed outside the court premises and barbed wire placed in front of the gate.

Imran submits more pleas seeking protective bail 

PTI Chief Imran Khan on Friday submitted more petitions to the Islamabad High Court seeking protective bail in different cases.

Imran’s lawyer Salman Safdar submitted these petitions on his behalf.

The petitioner requested the court to provide him with details of ‘secret cases’ registered against him in different places. 

He also beseeched the court to club together all cases lodged against him. 

CJP declares arrest illegal

Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial told Imran Khan at a hearing in Islamabad on Thursday that "Your arrest was invalid, so the whole process needs to be backtracked", extending an extraordinary relief to the PTI chief.

The court sent Imran Khan to the Police Lines guest house and ordered him to appear before the IHC on Friday (today). 

The CJP directed the National Accountability Bureau and police to ensure foolproof security to Imran Khan until his production before the IHC in the Al Qadir Trust case filed by the anti-graft watchdog. 

He further said that the apex court order would stay in force till Imran Khan’s production before the high court and the decision would have no impact on the NAB case. 

However, the government has vowed to re-arrest Imran Khan should he be released, setting the stage for more unrest.

Since being ousted from office last April, Imran Khan has waged a tempestuous campaign for snap elections and fired unprecedented criticism at Pakistani rulers and establishment.

He has accused them of plotting a November assassination attempt that saw him shot in the leg.

Meanwhile, he has become tangled in a slew of legal cases.

Security put on high alert in Islamabad

Security was put on high alert in the red zone and a continuous aerial surveillance of Islamabad was also carried out on Friday.

According to police sources, heavy contingents of police and Frontier Corps (FC) were deployed on various roads of the federal capital.

The roads declared sensitive were cordoned off, and most of the points leading to the red zone were also closed.

The traffic police personnel were deployed in Islamabad in large numbers.

The army vehicles kept patrolling at Zero Point and 7th Avenue.

The onetime cricket star was arrested on Tuesday when, surrounded by dozens of paramilitary troops, he was taken into custody at the Islamabad High Court on corruption charges.

The Islamabad High Court chief justice had previously declared Khan’s arrest ‘legal’ in whose court the arrest order was executed. 

But Supreme Court Chief Justice Bandial remarked yesterday that the arrests should not take place on court premises

Khan, 70, was ordered back to the same police headquarters where he has been sequestered for the past 48 hours on the condition it should be treated as a "residence".

But Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said authorities would re-arrest him.

"If he gets bail from the High Court tomorrow, we will wait for the cancellation of bail and arrest him again," Sanaullah told a private TV channel during an interview.

- Tear gas and water cannon -

Small groups of supporters danced on the streets at news the arrest had been overturned. In Lahore, police fired tear gas canisters into a crowd cheering the decision.

But with dozens of cases against him, Khan "has a long way to go", analyst Imtiaz Gul told AFP.

"This is just a timely relief, probably as part of efforts to de-escalate the explosive situation and reduce tensions," he said.

"The cobweb of criminal cases seems meant to entangle and thus incapacitate him from active politics" ahead of elections due in October, he said.

Several thousand of Imran Khan's supporters had rampaged through cities around the country this week in protest at his arrest, setting fire to buildings and blocking roads.

At least nine people have died in the unrest, police and hospitals said.

Hundreds of police officers have been injured and more than 2,000 people arrested, mostly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, according to authorities.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf top leadership including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, Shireen Mazari, Dr Yasmeen Rashid, Umar Sarfraz Cheema and Musarrat Jamshed have already been detained over charges of orchestrating the protests, police said.

Security forces have responded with tear gas and water cannon to quell the crowds and on Thursday came equipped with batons and riot shields.

Reporters Ehtisham Kiyani, Farzana Siddique, Rozina Ali and Mohsinul Mulk

With inputs from Agencies