ISLAMABAD
\nThe Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday barred authorities from arresting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in all cases, even those are undisclosed, registered across the country until Monday (May 15).
\nAccording to details, Imran Khan \u2013 who is still present inside the IHC \u2013 decided not to leave the court premises until written orders are issued in a bid to evade his arrest.
\nIslamabad High Court (ICH) Chief Justice (CJ) Aamer Farooq constituted a two-member divisional bench \u2013 Justice Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri \u2013 to hear Khan\u2019s bail pleas in a number of cases.
\nMeanwhile, the court also granted protective bail to PTI chief in three terrorism cases registered against him in Lahore and stopped authorities from arresting him till May 17 in any case registered in Islamabad after May 9.
\nJustice Jahangiri also approved Imran\u2019s protective bail in a case pertaining to the death of Zille Shah \u2014 a PTI worker who was killed during a party rally in Lahore earlier this year \u2014 for 10 days against surety bonds worth Rs50,000.
\nDuring the hearing, the former premier pointed out that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had warned to arrest him again, saying that there was no rule of law enforced in the country currently.
\nKhan\u2019s lawyer \u2013 Salman Safdar \u2013 pleaded to the court to grant his client protection in all the cases filed against him since May 9. \u201cGovernment machinery is being misused,\u201d the lawyer added.
\nThe judge presiding over the hearing said the incumbent government had a case registered against former interior minister Sheikh Rashid \u2014 a resident of Rawalpindi \u2014 in North Waziristan\u2019s Baka Khel.
\nHowever, he also noted that the PTI government had registered similar cases against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Javed Latif and others. Then, the court granted bail to Khan and issued orders that he should not be arrested in the \u201ccases that he has no knowledge of\u201d till Monday morning.
\nEarlier in the day, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted protective bail to former prime minister Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case, a day after the Supreme Court ruled his arrest \u201cunlawful\u201d.
\nA two-member special division bench comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Imtiaz, who presided over the hearing, approved Imran Khan\u2019s bail in Al-Qadir case for two weeks.
\nThe IHC also issued notice to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and directed the anti-graft watchdog to submit reply in the next hearing. As the hearing resumed today, Imran\u2019s counsel Haris contended before the court that the National Accountability Bureau\u2019s (NAB) action against the former PM was illegal.
\n\u201cPTI came to know through the media that the inquiry has been converted into an investigation,\u201d Haris maintained and added that the manner in which the inquiry was converted into an investigation, the aim was to \u201carrest Imran immediately\u201d.
\nHaris further informed the court that a notice was sent to him on March 2 to which he replied,\u201d he said, adding that in his reply, he informed NAB that the notice was not sent as per the requirements of the NAB Ordinance.
\nAfter hearing arguments, the IHC then accepted Imran\u2019s bail plea for two-weeks and also instructed the NAB prosecutor general and Imran\u2019s lawyers to be prepared at the next hearing.
\nA day earlier, the Supreme Court of Pakistan termed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan\u2019s arrest \u201cillegal\u201d minutes after PTI chief reached Supreme Court after a three-member bench ordered the authorities to produce him before the court.
\nThe three-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah along with the CJP, while hearing the former prime minister\u2019s plea against his arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case, termed Imran Khan\u2019s arrest from IHC premises \u201cillegal\u201d and ordered his immediate release.
\n\u201cYour arrest was invalid, so the whole process needs to be backtracked,\u201d Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial told Khan at a hearing in the capital Islamabad on Thursday. The apex court ordered Imran Khan to stay at the Police Lines Guest House but not as a prisoner and directed the Islamabad police chief to ensure the former PM\u2019s security.
\nHe was directed to appear in Islamabad High Court Friday morning. Since being ousted from office last April, Khan has waged a tempestuous campaign for snap elections and fired unprecedented criticism at Pakistan\u2019s government and powerful military who he blames for pulling him from power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday barred authorities from arresting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in all cases, even those are undisclosed, registered across the country until Monday (May 15). According to details, Imran Khan \u2013 who is still present inside the IHC \u2013 decided not to leave the court premises until […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330735,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2833,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-330791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-imran-khan","9":"tag-pti"},"yoast_head":"\n