ISLAMABAD: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Tuesday extended interim bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan till April 4 in a ‘terrorism case’ registered against him and other party leaders following the disqualification of PTI chief by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the Toshakhana case.
ATC judge Raja Jawad, while announcing its reserved judgement extended Khan’s interim bail and approved his application seeking exemption from personal appearance before the court.
The Sangjani police station on October 24 booked the PTI chairman and other leaders in a terrorism case over alleged vandalism and violation of section 144 during the protests.
The first information report (FIR) was registered at Sangjani police station under Sections 109 (abetment), 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 186 (obstructing public service), 188 (disobedience), 353 (assault on public servant), 427 (causing damage) of the Pakistan Penal Code, and Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
At the start of the hearing, Khan’s lawyer filed an application seeking an exemption from the personal appearance before the court, which the court approved.
The judge remarked that the court has not summoned Imran Khan he is filing the bail plea himself.
The counsel told the court that everyone knows about the situation faced by the PTI chief during his appearance at the Federal Judicial Complex (FJC) on March 18. “It was planned to kill Khan at the FJC,” he said that “the PTI chief wanted to appear before the court today but the security situation was not suitable.”
The council said the whole nation had seen police action against the PTI chief Imran Khan during his appearance before the court in Toshakhana case.
The judge said the whole nation had seen the situation but we did not see it as our cable connection was not operating.
Khan’s counsel further said that his client will appear before the court in Lahore High Court (LHC). Whenever Khan appears before the court, thousands of people join him due to which the government registers cases against him, he said.
The prosecutor urged the court to reject the exemption plea because the accused has to appear before the court if he wants to extend his bail plea.
The judge said that LHC is hundreds of miles away from Islamabad, how will he appear? The judge said that if Khan appeared before LHC till 3:30 pm then there is no issue otherwise the court will decide the matter.
The court reserved its judgment on Khan’s exemption plea till 3:30 pm.
Later, the court announced the judgment and extended Khan’s interim bail till April 4.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023