ISLAMABAD – An anti-terrorism court in the country’s federal capital on Wednesday rejected the bail of the PTI chairman Imran Khan in a case pertaining to protests outside the electoral watchdog.
Khan, who is facing a flurry of cases since being ousted in a no-confidence vote, was on interim bail in the protest case and he was supposed to appear before the court in a personal capacity.
In today’s development, the court summoned the self-acclaimed populist leader to appear before the court today but he decided against appearing in the court. His counsel even filed a plea on his behalf seeking his exemption citing medical grounds.
As the deadline ends, Judge Raja Jawad Abbas Hassan of the Anti-Terrorism Court pronounced the verdict, rejecting the PTI leader’s bail. The court in its order mentioned that the instant pre-arrest bail of the former prime minister was preferred in Oct last year, however, he failed to appear before the court.
The ATC judge maintained “Due to the protracted nature of the instant bail application, the matter cannot be stretched for an indefinite period, thus no further opportunity seeking dispensation from personal attendance shall be allowed.”
Earlier, his counsel maintained that the PTI chief could not travel due to medical reasons and that no recovery was needed from his client in the case; he even accused Sharif led cabinet behind the anti-PTI gambit.
Let it be known that leaders of former ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf are facing a plethora of cases including the protest outside ECP in the capital when the commission disqualified Imran Khan in the Toshakhana reference.
The electoral watchdog disqualified the ousted premier in the Toshakhana reference under Article 63(1)(p) last year.
