ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC), Tuesday, extended interim bails of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in eight cases registered against him till May 3.

A two-member bench of Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the bail petitions in different cases including the judicial complex riot case.

Besides extending Khan’s bail, the IHC bench also accepted the former prime minister’s plea seeking exemption from his personal appearance before the court for one day.

The cases were registered against the PTI chairman at Golra, Bara Kahu, Ramna, Khanna, and CTD police stations after the police accused the PTI chief and party workers of being involved in attacking police and creating unrest outside the FJC in Islamabad during the hearing of the Toshakhana case on March 18.

During the hearing, the IHC CJ made it clear that Imran’s interim bail in all the cases will be cancelled if he did not appear before the court on May 3.

PTI lawyer Faisal Chaudhry, the additional attorney general, and the advocate general Islamabad appeared before the bench.

Khan’s lawyer informed the court that his client appeared in the Lahore High Court (LHC) today. He added that his client cannot appear in this court due to security reasons.

Justice Aamer questioned if all eight cases before this court were filed against Imran and did the cases include provisions of terrorism? Advocate Faisal replied that these eight cases pertained to the judicial complex issue and they have requested to appear through a video link.

At this, the IHC CJ remarked that modern techniques should be used but in accordance with the law. He added that this court has not given any extraordinary relief to Imran Khan so that a wrong precedent is not set.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023