A court in the eastern city of Lahore on Monday granted protection to former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, giving him a two-week reprieve from detention in a case involving accusations made under the nation’s anti-terrorism legislation.
Since being removed from office by a parliamentary vote last year, Imran has been the target of several cases. The offenses range from amassing illegitimate finances for his political party to encouraging violence against government employees.
“For the sake of justice, we are inclined to award him ad-interim anticipatory bail protection in nature till March 3, 2023, so that he can approach the court of first instance “, the written order issued after a while mentioned.
In a case involving violent protests outside the election commission, Imran Khan was granted protective bail when he appeared before the Lahore High Court on Monday. The hearing took place amid intense drama inside the courthouse, where hundreds of Imran Khan’s supporters had gathered to show their support for him.
After 70-year-old Imran was disqualified from running for office in the prohibited funding case last year, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf activists violently protested.
Imran had been ordered by Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh to appear in court for the hearing of his application for protective bail in the matter.
The PTI chairman was granted protective bail until March 3 by a two-member LHC bench headed by Judge Ali Baqar Najafi, according to a court official.
“Though he had intended to do so the previous week, Imran stood before the judge and said that he had been instructed to take it easy until his leg wound had healed, which would take more than two weeks. He continued by saying that he has always appreciated the legal system as a supporter of justice. He asserted that the word “justice” appears twice in the name of his party”.
Khan’s compliance with the law was praised by Judge Najafi. He was given protective bail until March 3 by the judge, who also prohibited police and other authorities from detaining him.
Imran defeated the PML-N government’s plot to have him detained as he appeared in court and was granted protective bail in the case in which he was charged with terrorist offences.
On the federal coalition government’s instruction, a team of police and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) were present in the courthouse with the intent to detain Khan should his bail request be denied.
What exactly is at issue here?
Imran Khan and the PTI’s leadership were charged with terrorism in October 2022 as a result of their calls for protests outside Pakistan’s various election commission offices.
After being shot during a rally in Punjab province in November of last year, this was Khan’s first appearance in a court of law.
Khan had to go from his Lahore home to the LHC through thousands of party workers, which took him over two hours to complete.
As Khan’s vehicle entered the LHC grounds, it was showered in rose petals and a sizable crowd of PTI supporters chanted slogans in support of Khan and against the PML-N-led coalition government.
Khan arrived at the courthouse, but a PTI employee mob prevented him from entering the courtroom within the stipulated 90 minutes. Khan arrived at the courtroom around 7:15 p.m. (local time) wearing a blue salwar kameez after getting out of his automobile. Outside the LHC, tens of thousands of people had gathered, and little security was in place.
Several PTI supporters who had gathered outside the court yelled slogans in support of Khan and the judiciary after learning of his protected bail.
Khan was previously given one final opportunity to appear in court on Monday when the Lahore High Court (LHC) heard his protective bail petition in the case involving protests outside the ECP.
Khan’s request for an extension of his interim release in a case involving violent protests outside the ECP was denied by an Islamabad anti-terrorism court on February 15 due to non-appearance.
Fascinatingly, the government booked Khan on terrorism-related charges despite the fact that he was not present at the Islamabad protest demonstration outside the ECP building.
Since a murder attempt was made against Khan on November 3 in Wazirabad, he has been residing in his Zaman Park home in Lahore.