Imran appears in court, gets bail in 9 cases

New Delhi, March 17

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended a non-bailable arrest warrant in a corruption case and asked the police to provide Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan with security to appear in the sessions court.

IHC suspended the arrest warrant issued by the Islamabad District and Sessions Court in the Toshakhana case about the concealment of the proceeds of the state gifts and directed the police to bring him to court by Saturday.

The development comes a day after Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Zafar Iqbal dismissed a plea by Khan to suspend his non-bailable arrest warrant in the state depository case. The area around Imran Khan’s house had turned into a war zone for two days as his supporters clashed with the police.

Khan has been accused of buying gifts from the state depository (Toshakhana) at heavy discounts and then selling them for profit. The Toshakhana stores gifts given to public servants by visiting dignitaries.

Imran Khan was disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in October last year for not sharing details of the sales and had petitioned the district court to punish him.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday also gave relief to Khan by granting him protective bail in terrorism cases registered against him in Lahore and Islamabad. A two-judge LHC Bench granted Imran Khan protective bail in the five cases registered in Lahore till March 27 and till March 24 in the three registered in Islamabad.

Imran Khan arrived in a cavalcade at the LHC on Friday evening after seeking protective bail in the FIRs registered against him in Islamabad and Lahore. At the hearing, a judge counselled him that “the solution for all problems is found in the law” and it would be better if he “went with the system”.

The former Pakistan PM complained that he had faced an assassination attempt. A suicide attack had occurred when he was supposed to appear in another case. But there was no sympathy from the Bench. “You have to bring yourself into the (legal) system. There was no problem in this case. You mishandled it,” it noted.

The former Pakistan PM also hit out at the Pakistan Rangers and it seemed as if they were coming to conquer Kashmir. “In the wake of the attack on my residence, I felt that I am the most wanted terrorist in the country,” he added.

“On these occasions, my party leaders and workers stood with me and said they would not let me court arrest me because they would torture me as they did party leaders Shahbaz Gill and Azam Swati,” he said.