The court ordered Imran Khan to submit surety bonds worth Rs0.1 million while ordering him to become part of investigation.
The former premier has been ordered to ensure his appearance in every proceeding. The high court has also sought arguments on whether only the IHC could grant permanent bail to Imran Khan.
In this regard, the court served notices to the police and federation while ordering them to submit a response by May 3.
Amidst concerns of potential “assassination plots”, PTI supremo Imran Khan reached the IHC seeking bail in a case pertaining to making allegations against top officers of state institutions and inciting mutiny.
In this regard, the PTI chief had also submitted a plea for pre-arrest bail with the help of his lawyers in the case. But, the registrar’s office raised some concerns about the application, one of which was related to the absence of biometric verification.
Accompanied by a convoy of his party workers, the PTI chief departed at 7 pm from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.
The police spokesperson has also stated on Twitter that the Islamabad Police will be taking necessary security measures during Imran Khan’s appearance in court. It is hoped that Imran Khan and his colleagues will abide by the law during the proceedings.
The spokesperson emphasized that the courts must make decisions based on the law, and everyone is equal before the law without any discriminatory status.
The case
On April 6, Manzoor Ahmed Khan, a magistrate, filed a first information report (FIR) at the city’s Ramna police station against Imran for “spreading hatred between the institutions and the public” and for “trying to cause unforgivable damage to the institutions and their top officers”.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been accused of multiple offenses in an FIR filed against him under sections 138, 500, and 505 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
The FIR alleges that during a speech from Zaman Park Lahore on March 19, which was broadcast on BOL News, Imran made various allegations against a senior officer of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and conducted a “character assassination.”
It also mentioned other speeches made by Imran on October 28 and 29 and November 4 and 11, 2022, in which he allegedly used inappropriate language for the ISI and army officials, threatened the families of senior officers, and provoked extremists, putting the lives of a senior officer’s family members at risk.
The complainant further alleges that Imran’s statements damaged the army’s reputation and resulted in foreign agencies taking advantage of the situation, attacking Imran and attempting to create a rift between the public and the army. The FIR claims that the purpose of Imran’s speeches was to “conspire to make soldiers revolt against their oath and officers,” utilizing Twitter and other social media platforms to this end.
Furthermore, the FIR alleges that through his speeches, the former premier “attempted to create an atmosphere among top army officers and other soldiers where they would not listen to their officer’s commands.”
Last hearing
While on April 10, the ex-prime minister filed a request with the Islamabad High Court to dismiss the mutiny case against him at Ramna station. However, the hearing was postponed indefinitely on April 12th, when Justice Aamer Farooq of the IHC summoned Magistrate Khan for the next hearing and requested a response from him.
During the hearing, Imran’s legal representative, Faisal Chaudhry, objected to the jurisdiction of the case, arguing that the incident took place in Lahore, but an FIR was registered in Islamabad.
While Imran’s council Barrister Safdar informed the court that another FIR had been registered against Imran Khan.
Justice Najafi then asked him to read the contents of the FIR aloud, which the lawyer did.
After Imran’s counsel read out the FIR, Justice Najafi asked him if his client wanted to appear in the relevant court in Islamabad. Barrister Safdar responded in the affirmative.
“An FIR was filed by gathering words from different speeches of Imran Khan,” he added, referring to the April 6 criminal complaint.
The counsel then requested the court to provide his client with protective bail until after Eid, as he had to go to Islamabad on April 18.
The court accepted the request and granted the PTI chief protective bail until April 26.
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