Lahore Mirror – – A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday granted Chairman Imran Khan bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case, a day after the Supreme Court termed his arrest from the IHC premises “invalid and unlawful”.
A division bench comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz heard the PTI chief’s bail plea at courtroom No.2.
DawnNewsTV reported that Imran’s lawyers had also filed four additional pleas which urged the IHC to club all the cases against Imran and to direct authorities to provide details of the cases registered against him.
The hearing had initially begun after a nearly two-hour delay with media reporting that officials were conducting a security sweep outside the courtroom.
But they were halted shortly after they began at 1pm on account of Friday prayers. On the other hand, Geo News reported that judges had left the courtroom after “pro-Imran” slogans were raised.
When the hearing resumed after 2:30pm, Imran was present in the courtroom alongside his legal team and his lawyer Khawaja Haris presented his arguments.
Haris contended before the court that the action undertaken by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was illegal. He said that NAB could only issue an arrest warrant after the inquiry had formally been turned into an investigation.
He said that the PTI had gotten to know that NAB had formally initiated an investigation against Imran through media reports. He also said that PTI chief had approached the IHC on May 9 seeking the NAB report in the inquiry, but he was arrested before he could enter the courtroom.
The court instructed the NAB prosecutor general and Imran’s lawyers to be prepared at the neat hearing, saying that it would then decide if Imran’s bail should be cancelled or extended.
Imran says he was hit on the head during arrest
In an informal conversation with journalists at the IHC, Imran said that NAB officials treated him “fine” but hastened to add that he was hit on the head while being arrested.
He further said that he was also not able to get in touch with his wife Bushra Bibi. “I asked the NAB team to let me talk [to her]. They let me talk to her on the landline,” he said.
Talking about violent protests in the country, he said, “How could I have stopped whatever happened? I had already told [you] that there would be a reaction to the arrest.
“When I was [taken into custody], then how can I be responsible?” the former premier asked.
In a video shared by on social media by Independent Urdu, Imran further said: “I was sitting in the high court. They had no reason to arrest me. I was abducted.
“And there they showed me the warrant for the first time when they took me to jail. This happens in the law of the jungle and the army abducts. Where did the police go? Where did the law go?” he asked.
“The law of the jungle has been instated in the country. It seems as if martial law has been declared,” he said.
“When I reached the court yesterday, I found out for the first time that 40 helpless people have lost their lives in this. I did not even know about this,” he added.
