Islamabad, May 12 (Hindustan). The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday granted protective bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case. A two-member special bench of Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz on Tuesday granted 15-day protective bail to the arrested former prime minister from the Islamabad High Court premises. A day after the Supreme Court termed as “illegal” the arrest of Imran Khan in the Al Qadir Trust case, High Court Chief Justice Amir Farooq constituted a special bench to hear his bail plea.
According to media reports, wearing white glasses, Imran Khan reached the Islamabad High Court amid tight security like a celebrity wearing a light blue salwar kameez and dark blue waistcoat. During the first session, Imran Khan, in response to a reporter’s question, said that he was allowed by NAB officials to talk to his wife through a landline during his arrest. At that time, hundreds of police and paramilitary forces were deployed in the security of the premises of the judicial structure in the federal capital.
When the hearing began an hour late than the scheduled time, some lawyers raised slogans in favor of Imran Khan in the courtroom, irking the two-judge bench. Courtroom staff tried to stop the sloganeering but failed to do so. On this, Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb said that this is unacceptable. After this, the hearing was adjourned for some time for Friday prayers.
In an informal discussion with reporters during the hearing, Khan said he would not protest if his bail plea was rejected. Contacting his legal team amid fears of arrest, Khan referred to the clashes and warned that if he was arrested again, there would be a backlash as before. He said, ‘I do not want such a situation to arise again, because this is my country and my army.’
He revealed that the Punjab Police had come to him. The PTI chief did not respond to a question about his experience of being arrested, but to another question, he said, “It’s a relief! I was sitting in the High Court, they had no justification to arrest me.” Terming his arrest as a ‘kidnapping’, he said he was shown a warrant after being taken to jail. “This is the law of the jungle,” the PTI chief said. Looks like martial law has been declared here.
Talking to media persons during the hearing, Khan’s lawyer Babar Awan clarified that the lawyers who started the sloganeering were not related to PTI. He then asked in a questioning tone, “Whoever wants elections, why would he create trouble in the country?” Awan expressed concern over the possibility of another arrest of the PTI chairman and said, “Punjab Police has been specially called to Islamabad. Why does the government want to arrest Imran Khan?” arrests from, it would be “unconstitutional”.
