The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday suspended the proceedings before a trial court in Toshakhana case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Supremo Imran Khan.
ISLAMABAD (Mudasser Chuhdary) – The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday granted bail to PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan in all cases, barring the authorities from arresting him till May 17.
A division bench comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz announced the ruling that is expected to cool down the tension in the country erupted following the arrest of the former premier.
Earlier, the bench granted bail for two weeks to Mr Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case after it resumed hearing after a short break for Friday prayers. The hearing, which started with around two hours late, was adjourned minutes after the former premier was brought to courtroom amid tight security. The court has issued notices to the National Accountability Bureau and others.
A large number of PTI lawyers and leaders are present outside the court while Islamabad police, and Rangers have tightended the security to avoid any untoward situation.
A division bench comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz heard the case.
The case was adjourned earlier as a lawyer in the courtroom raised slogans in favour of Imran Khan prompting the court to halt the hearing at once.
The court adjourned the hearing of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s bail plea in the Al-Qadir Trust case until after Friday prayers. The hearing was already begun after a nearly two-hour delay with media reporting that officials were conducting a security sweep outside courtroom 2.
Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb remarked that how they could proceed if the lawyers would behave like this. He deferred the hearing until after Juma prayers. “Such an attitude is totally unacceptable,” he added.
The angry judges rose for the break after the lawyers raised more slogans.
In reaction, Imran Khan’s legal team said the lawyer who raised the slogans was not a member of PTI chief’s team and he should be arrested.
However, when the court resumed hearing after the Friday prayers break, Imran’s lawyer Khawaja Haris started giving his arguments.
He said that Imran was arrested from the biometric branch of the court on May 9. He said that the Al Qadir Trust corruption case inquiry was suddenly changed into an investigation in order to arrest Imran Khan immediately. If there is some material, only then the NAB could change the investigation into an inquiry, he argued.
Haris said that the NAB even could not send us the questionnaire, it just asked us to provide some information.
He went on to say that in the Toshakhana case, we were sent a notice like this, which he had challenged in court and the court declared the NAB notice illegal.
The Islamabad advocate general said that due to violent incidents, the Army was called in under Article 245 and the high court could not hear cases like this if Article 245 has been invoked.
Justice Miangul wondered if martial law has been imposed here. Should we make all writ petitions ineffective due to Article 245, the judge asked.
NAB Prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi objected that Imran Khan never appeared before the anti-graft watchdog, while his co-accused including Zulfi Bukhari, Faisal Vawda, Mian Muhammad Soomro and another person joined the inquiry. However, ex-SAPM Shahzad Akbar was sent a notice but he did not join the enquiry.
After hearing arguments, the court granted interim bail for two weeks to the PTI chairman and stopped NAB from arresting him.
The Islamabad High Court also issued a notice to the NAB and sought its reply.
Justice Aurangzeb told the NAB prosecution that in the next hearing the court will hear the arguments and decide to grant or reject the bail.
Khawaja Haris told the court that he has got a copy of the inquiry in the Al-Qadir Trust case, and he also got the inquiry report in the case of Bushra Bibi.
The court adjourned the hearing for two weeks.
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