Addressing a public rally on Saturday, Imran Khan accused Islamabad Police Chief and Additional Sessions Judge of the federal capital Islamabad Zeba Chowdhury of arresting and torturing his supporters. He promised to take action against them. A case (FIR) was filed at the Islamabad police station that night.
Pakistani media outlet Dawn reported that former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has been granted three-day anticipatory bail in a case filed by the Islamabad Police under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The Islamabad High Court on Monday granted his bail till August 25, Thursday.
After the case was filed on Saturday, the news of the case appeared in the country’s media on Sunday. Imran applied for anticipatory bail in the High Court to avoid arrest. PTI lawyers Faisal Chowdhury and Babar Awan filed the application on his behalf on Monday morning.
The FIR filed by the Margalla police said the PTI chief had threatened the Additional Sessions Judge of Islamabad to intimidate senior officials of the police and judiciary. So that they cannot perform their duties and refrain from taking action against PTI.
Meanwhile, it is feared that Imran may be arrested anytime after the FIR is filed. Imran Khan has also applied to the Islamabad High Court for anticipatory bail to avoid arrest.
According to Pakistan’s Geo News, after the case, the Ministry of Home Affairs has sought written approval from Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s office to arrest Imran. However, it is heard that the ruling coalition led by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will decide on the arrest of Imran Khan based on the opinion of all the remaining partners.
Geo News reported that when the news of the arrest warrant against Imran spread on social media, PTI leaders and activists took to the streets and started protesting.
Many PTI leaders including Fawad Chaudhuri, Hammad Azhar, Asad Umar, Murad Saeed, Omar Ayub Parvez Khattak went to Imran’s Banigala residence and started a sit-in program there to prevent his arrest.
Fawad Chowdhury told reporters that the government is well aware of the public sentiments of trying to take any ‘illegal action’ against Imran Khan.
He termed the case against the PTI chief as ‘absurd’ and said it ‘should be withdrawn’.
(22 Aug)