Grants Imran protective bail till Thursday
The Islamabad High Court has taken notice of former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s statement in which he allegedly threatened additional sessions judge of the federal capital Zeba Chaudhry and decided to initiate contempt of court proceedings against him.
The decision was taken after consultation of the all IHC judges.
A three-judge IHC bench, headed by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and comprising Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb and Justice Babar Sattar, will take up the case today.
Imran while addressing a rally at Islamabad’s F-9 park on Saturday alleged that Judge Zeba Chaudhry knew that incarcerated party leader Shahbaz Gill was tortured, but she did not release him on bail. He had threatened to take action against the judge and the Islamabad IGP.
Imran was also booked in a terrorism case on the complaint of Islamabad Saddar Magistrate Ali Javed for threatening the judge.
The first information report was lodged with the Margalla police station at 10 pm, Saturday, following a speech of Imran Khan at the PTI rally at F-9 Park. The FIR also carries Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The FIR was lodged hours before another Islamabad police station received a written complaint from a resident of G-11/2 for lodging a case against Imran over making hate-speeches, and inciting rebellion against the army, police and judiciary. The FIR lodged by the Margalla police said that the PTI chief threatened the additional sessions judge of Islamabad with a view to terrorise the high officials of the police and the judiciary, so that they could not fulfil their duties and refrain from taking action against the PTI due to fear of Imran.
Earlier in the day, Imran was granted a pre-arrest bail till August 25 by the Islamabad High Court in the same case after he approached the court amid reports that the authorities were planning to arrest him.
The bail plea was heard by Justice Mohsin Akthar Kayani and Justice Babar Sattar, who approved the bail and ordered him to approach the Anti-Terrorism Court within these three days.
Imran’s counsel, Babar Awan and Faisal Chaudhry, argued that the PTI chief should be granted protective bail as he wanted to appear before the ATC, but his house was “surrounded by the police”.
They further feared that the police personnel could arrest Imran if he appeared in court without a protective bail. The PTI chief’s counsel stated that the concerned ATC judge was on leave hence, the high court had to be approached.
The coalition parties of the incumbent government had earlier urged the superior judiciary to take immediate notice of former prime minister Imran Khan’s threat to a lady judge during his F-9 Park speech.
“Take legal action against Imran Khan and his colleagues for interfering in the affairs of the interior minister and threatening the officers and government staff who are performing their duties according to the law,” according to a joint statement issued on Saturday.
The statement strongly condemned the speech delivered by Imran on Saturday night in which a lady judge was named and threatened, while an attempt was made to intimidate the Islamabad IG and DIG.
“These threats are blatant bullying and lawlessness. Imran is the chairman of a traitorous foreign-aided party and a recipient of foreign funding, who has plotted a coup in Pakistan Army.”
