Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan on Monday received a temporary relief – in the form of a transit bail for three days – till August 25 in a terrorism case, hours after his team had moved the Islamabad High Court seeking a pre-arrest bail, local media reports said. Imran Khan has been booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act for threatening police, judiciary, and other state institutions at his Islamabad rally that was held on Saturday. The country’s media watchdog – Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority- has also banned TV channels from broadcasting his live speeches.
The FIR against Imran Khan was registered at Islamabad’s Margalla police station at 10 pm on Saturday under the complaint of magistrate Ali Javed, reported Dawn. The FIR stated that Khan’s speech had “terrorized and threatened top police officials and a respected female additional sessions judge”.
Imran Khan’s lawyers Babar Awan and Faisal Chaudhry filed a petition seeking his pre-arrest bail on Sunday. In the petition, they stated that the former Pakistani PM was a “target of the ruling PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) for his fearless criticism, and extremely bold and blunt stance against corruption and corrupt politicians,” according to the Dawn report, which cited the plea.
They further alleged that the “false and frivolous complaint has been registered against Khan” in order to “achieve a malicious agenda”. It also alleged that the current ruling government had “decided to cross all limits to arrest Imran Khan under false accusations”.
According to the FIR, the main aim of the intimidation was to prevent the police officers and judiciary from carrying out their legal obligations.
Meanwhile, according to reports, Pakistan’s interior ministry had asked a written permission from the country’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office to arrest the news agency chairman following the registration of cases. Imran Khan is said to have left his Bani Gala residence to avoid arrest, reported, citing sources.