PTI Chairman and former premier Imran Khan will appear before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday (today) for seeking bail in a terrorism-related case. In a video statement, PTI senior leader Babar Awan said the party’s legal committee had decided that Khan’s bail plea would be filed with the ATC on Thursday and Imran himself will go to the court.
Awan claimed that by filing this case, the government had completely “destroyed” Pakistan’s anti-terrorism narrative, as he termed the charges against Khan “false”. “This is a fabricated case; no threat was issued; no Kalashnikov rifle was fired,” the former special assistant to PM on parliamentary affairs said. Awan further said that the international media, human rights activists, and even the United Nations had expressed concern over the matter.
“God willing, we will all go together tomorrow,” he added. Previously, in an interview with a news channel, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had said that the government would try and get Imran’s bail rejected.
“We will ensure that he is arrested from the court,” he had said. “And I believe that the court will conduct a thorough inquiry against him for threatening the sessions court judge.” A case was registered against the former prime minister under the Anti-Terrorism Act for threatening an additional sessions judge and senior police officers of the Islamabad Police during a public rally.
Seeking bail, the party moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) where Khan managed to secure a transit bail till August 25, but was asked to approach the ATC as the case was terrorism-related. The FIR registered against Khan states that he threatened Additional Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry and police officers at a rally in F-9 Park to “terrorize” police officials and the judiciary.
The main aim of the intimidation was to prevent the police officers and judiciary from carrying out their legal obligations, states the FIR. The FIR was registered on the complaint of Magistrate Ali Javed in Islamabad’s Margalla Police Station under Section 7 of ATA. Last Sunday, Khan warned that he would “not spare” Islamabad’s inspector-general, deputy inspector general, and female magistrate, vowing to file cases against them for torturing Gill. “We will not spare the IG and DIG,” he said while addressing a public gathering at the F-9 park.
