ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC), Wednesday, extended its orders of not arresting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in the cases registered against him after May 9.
A single bench of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the petition filed by Imran Khan regarding pre-arrest bail and details of cases registered against him and barred the authorities from arresting him till May 31.
Imran’s lawyer, Barrister Gohar represented him in the court while Additional Attorney General Munawar Dugal, Advocate General Islamabad Jahangir Jadoon also appeared before the court.
The federal government represented by the additional attorney general for Pakistan, the advocate general for Pakistan and the state counsel requested the court to grant more time to provide details of cases against the PTI chief.
On the other hand, the PTI chairman also submitted an application seeking exemption from his personal appearance before the court for one day.
Approving their requests, the IHC bench deferred the hearing of the matter till May 31.
It stated in its written order that vide order dated 12.05.2023 ad-interim pre-arrest bail was granted to the applicant and the case was ordered to be fixed for today.
It added that an application has been filed on behalf of the applicant seeking exemption from personal appearance on the ground that he is to appear before the Lahore High Court so as to seek ad-interim pre-arrest bail in case FIR No.52/2023 as well as before the Anti-Terrorism Court, Lahore for grant of pre-arrest bail in case FIR No.768/23, 96/23 and 1271/23.
The judge observed: “I am of the view that there are adequate grounds for seeking the said request. Learned counsel for the applicant has also relied on the order dated 16.05.2023 passed by another Bench of this Court in Crl. Misc. No.272-B/2023, whereby the applicant was exempted from appearance in person.”
He added that in this view of the matter, the instant application is allowed.
He also noted: “The inquiry officer is in attendance and submits that although the petitioner has not joined the inquiry/ investigation as yet, but he would either travel to Lahore for the purposes of the inquiry/ investigation or submit a questionnaire, statement under Section 161 CrPC. He may do so.”
On May 12, Khan was granted a blanket relief from different benches of the IHC that not only barred the authorities from arresting him but also stayed his trial in the Toshakhana case until the second week of June.
The court had also granted protective bail to the former prime minister in three terrorism cases registered against him in Lahore and the Zille Shah murder case.
On the same day, a separate IHC bench accepted Khan’s bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case under the charges of which he was arrested for two weeks, after the Supreme Court termed his arrest “invalid and unlawful”. It had stopped authorities from arresting the PTI chief till May 17 in any case registered in Islamabad after May 9.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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