Imran Khan gets relief in judge threat case,

Lahore/Islamabad _The Lahore High Court (LHC) Friday granted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan a three-day extension in protective bail till March 27 in five cases registered against him in the federal capital after he personally appeared before the court,

Former prime minister arrived at the LHC in tight security as a two-member special bench, comprising Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh and Justice Anwaar Hussain heard the plea regarding an extension in the protective bail.

Last week, Khan secured protective bail in eight terrorism cases and one civil case — a total of nine — after he appeared before the court in person. For the five cases in Islamabad, the court granted bail to Khan till March 24 and for the three cases in Lahore, he received bail for 10 days (March 27).

The verdict today was announced minutes after the PTI submitted an affidavit that a bail petition has been submitted in Islamabad.

Following the court’s order, the PTI chief’s counsel submitted the affidavit stating that his client’s bail pleas have been submitted in the Islamabad courts.

After the submission, the court asked the prosecutor whether he wanted to say something. The prosecutor said that he did not have anything to add.

Justice Sheikh said that the court is extending the relief granted to the petitioner as his cases are pending in the Islamabad courts. “If you (Khan) do not get bail there, then you will face the consequences of submitting a fake affidavit.”

He also warned the PTI chief’s counsel that submitting a fake affidavit was tantamount to contempt of court.

Earlier, Imran Khan submitted five more applications to the LHC seeking protective bail in these cases. But the registrar office objected that Imran had already obtained protective bail in these cases.

But a two-member bench comprising Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh and Justice Anwar Hussain removed registrar’s objection and fixed the petitions for hearing.

Earlier, LHC’s Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh conducted hearing of Imran Khan’s plea seeking details of cases filed against the PTI chief.

The LHC judge referred the case file to the chief justice for constituting a larger bench for hearing the case further.

Earlier,

A district and sessions court on Friday converted non-bailable arrest warrant issued for PTI Chairman Imran Khan into bailable in a case related to threatening a woman magistrate while addressing a public gathering last year.

Additional Sessions Judge Faizan Haider Gilani pronounced the verdict he reserved earlier in the day. He has disposed of the petition filed by the PTI seeking extension in suspension of the arrest warrant.

Special prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi and counsel for the former prime minister, Gohar Ali, had submitted the arguments before the judge reserved the verdict.

Mr Ali informed the judge that his client would appear before a court in Islamabad in the Toshakhana case on March 30 and sought extension in suspension of his arrest warrants till that date. The PTI lawyer said he would file an application to change the arrest warrants’ date. “It’s strange that you are asking for March 30 while the date for arrest warrants is March 29,” the judge remarked.

The prosecutor said arguments should be made on a petition seeking suspension of the arrest warrants. When the judge asked if Mr Khan ever appeared in court, the prosecutor said the PTI chief never attended the hearing of the threat case. He said no lawyer had even submitted power of attorney on the behalf of the PTI chairman in the case.

After hearing arguments, the judge reserved his verdict which is expected to be announced shortly.