ISLAMABAD
\nThe Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Sunday approved the pre-arrest bail of PTI chief Imran Khan, a day after an arrest warrant was issued for the former premier in connection with his controversial remarks against Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Zeba Chaudhry and other officials at an August 20 public rally.
\nImran\u2019s arrest warrant, dated September 30, was issued by Senior Civil Judge Rana Mujahid Rahim. As details of the warrant emerged, PTI workers and leaders converged on Banigala to scuttle any attempts at his arrest, warning once again that he is a \u201cred line\u201d.
\nAccording to Islamabad police, after the Islamabad High Court struck down terror charges from the case registered against Imran, the case was transferred to a sessions court and the PTI chief had not obtained his bail from there.
\nThe police also said he had also not attended the last court hearing on the matter and the warrant was issued to ensure his presence.
\nSubsequently, Imran filed a petition with the IHC on Sunday through his counsel Babar Awan.
\nIn the plea, Imran said that a terrorism case was initially filed against him, however, the charges were later struck down by the high court and the case was transferred.
\nHe alleged that the coalition government had filed a false case against him, the purpose of which was to quash the peaceful movement against the \u201ccorruption mafia\u201d.
\nAccording to the plea, the purpose of the case was to arrest Imran in order to put an end to a \u201cpeaceful political movement.
\nJustice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani took up the PTI leader\u2019s petition and barred Islamabad police from arresting Imran. The court approved Imran\u2019s bail against the submission of surety bonds worth Rs10,000.
\nThe IHC also directed Imran to appear before the court concerned before Friday.
\nSpeaking to the media outside the court, Awan said the IHC had granted the PTI chief \u201cpre-arrest transitory protective bail\u201d, adding \u201cwe will turn up at the lower court before Oct 7.\u201d
\nAwan said he appeared before Justice Kayani and raised a few \u201cfactual points\u201d pertaining to the case.
\n\u201cI told him that we had already obtained bail in this case as well as the fact these charges can\u2019t be imposed because they are non-cognisable offences,\u201d he said.
\nThe PTI chief\u2019s counsel said whatever happened yesterday evening was \u201cvery dangerous\u201d as the whole country stood up without any call. \u201cThis imported government must see Imran\u2019s power.\u201d
\nHe was of the view that lawyers, peasants, labourers, students, youth as well as the whole of Pakistan would take to the streets once the party leader gave the date for his long march.
\nHe said it would now be the PTI\u2019s turn to file cases based on \u201ctruth and facts\u201d, adding the government won\u2019t be able to lodge cases anymore.
\nThe decision to initiate contempt proceedings against Imran was taken by the IHC\u2019s Justice Aamer Farooq on August 22 while hearing a petition challenging Gill\u2019s police remand. The court hadsummoned Imran on August 31 and subsequently issued him a show-cause notice.
\nA day before the hearing, the former prime minister had submitted a reply before the IHC wherein he had expressed his willingness to \u201ctake back\u201d his words about Judge Chaudhry if they were \u201cregarded as inappropriate\u201d. He had pleaded before the IHC that the judges who had agreed to initiate the case against him should consider withdrawing themselves from the bench as, according to him, they had pre-judged the matter.
\nHowever, the IHC had deemed the response to be \u201cunsatisfactory\u201d and asked the PTI chief to submit a \u201cwell-considered\u201d response.
\nFollowing this, Imran had submitted another reply to the court. In the revised response, Imran had stopped short of rendering an unconditional apology.
\nOn September 8, the IHC had decided to indict Imran, once again calling his response \u201cunsatisfactory\u201d.
\nHowever, at the next hearing on September 22, when it was expected that charges would be framed against the PTI chief, Imran had offered to tender an apology to Judge Chaudhry and escaped the indictment.
\nFollowing his statement in the court, the larger bench hearing the case had said that it was \u201csatisfied\u201d with the apology and asked the PTI chief to submit an affidavit.
\nPrior to submitting the affidavit, Imran on Friday appeared before an Islamabad sessions court to personally apologise to Judge Chaudhry, but his apology was left hanging as the judge was on leave.
\nMeanwhile, in his affidavit, Imran said he had \u201crealised during these (contempt) proceedings before the honourable court that he might have crossed a red line\u201d. However, he added, he never intended to threaten Judge Chaudhry and \u201cthere was no intention behind the statement to take any action other than legal action\u201d.
\nHe said he wanted to assure the IHC that he was willing to explain and clarify before Judge Chaudhry that\u201c neither he nor his party seeks\/sought any action\u201c against her and he was willing to apologise to her \u201cif she got an impression that the deponent (Imran) had crossed a line\u201d.
\nHe also expressed his willingness to take any further steps that the IHC \u201cdeems necessary and appropriate for the satisfaction of the honourable court that he never intended to interfere in the process of the court or impugn the dignity or independence of the judiciary\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Sunday approved the pre-arrest bail of PTI chief Imran Khan, a day after an arrest warrant was issued for the former premier in connection with his controversial remarks against Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Zeba Chaudhry and other officials at an August 20 public rally. Imran\u2019s arrest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10780,32,2833,10305],"class_list":{"0":"post-286968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-female-judge","9":"tag-ihc","10":"tag-imran-khan","11":"tag-pre-arrest-bail"},"yoast_head":"\n