Court extends bails granted to Bushra Bibi in graft cases until October 12
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An accountability court (AC) in Islamabad on Tuesday extended pre-arrest bails granted to the wife of former former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi, in 190 million pounds and Toshakhana cases until October 12, 2023, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
AC judge Muhammad Bashir heard the bail petitions filed by former first lady of Pakistan.
Bushra appeared in the court along with her lawyer Latif Khosa.
Speaking on the occasion, Khosa said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had said earlier that right now it was not seeking Bushra’s arrest. “But I have an objection to the words ‘right now’,” he said, adding, “It is laid down in courts’ verdicts that if a law-enforcement agency wants to arrest somebody, it should intimate the court prior to that.”
But here, he went on to say, the case was opposite as the moment PTI leaders left the court’s premises, they were arrested on the pretext that the words ‘right now’ were for a brief period of time and had now become irrelevant.
Referring to Imran’s arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case, Khosa said that although he had complete trust in what the NAB said. “But recent events have eroded my trust in the anti-corruption watchdog,” he said, and prayed to the court to order the bureau to intimate it case it made up its mind to arrest the former first lady of Pakistan.
NAB Prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi said that right now neither the bureau wanted to take Bushra into custody nor it wanted to.
He said that there was no rule under which suspects should be informed before their arrests.
Bushra’s counsel said what the nation was witnessing these days was unprecedented. “Today neither anybody follows the laws nor the constitution. Every institution is free to do whatever it likes,” he regretted.
In the Toshakhana case, Bushra appeared in the court along with her lawyer Salman Safdar.
Speaking on the occasion, Safdar said that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had granted ‘stay’ on his client’s voice matching. “As long as the IHC is hearing the case, it could not be heard in any other court,” he argued.
The court then adjourned hearing of the case until October 16.
Reporter: Farzana Siddique