- Court grants bail to PTI chief; charges with instigation
ISLAMABAD: Even though the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has remained absent from the hearings for over three years, the court can’t curtail his freedom over that and grants bail to him, said an anti-terrorism court on Saturday.
The ATC granted bail to the PTI chairman in four terrorism-related cases, saying that Imran’s absconsion can’t lead to the curtailing of his liberty.
The court ruled that “no recovery of any incriminating article is required to be made from the accused” as admitted he was not armed and the only role of instigating the other co-accused is attributed to him.
ATC Judge Shahrukh Arjumand ruled: “[the] accused has been charged with a role of only raising “lalkara” and instigation, “no specific act of injuring the police officials is attributed to him.”
The court ruled that the PTI chief did not injure anyone by himself, nor were there any recoveries made from him, so there was no use sending him behind the bars.
The court was hearings cases pertaining to Imran’s pre-arrest bail in cases pertaining to an attack on the then SSP Asmatullah Junejo, PTV headquarters and Parliament, as well as, the violation of the loudspeaker act during the 2014 sit-ins in the federal capital.
In the order, Justice Arjumand stated that the police have not attempted to trace out the actual culprits inspite of having footage of them who caused injuries to the complainant and one another senior police officer — the then SSP Junejo.
Subsequently, the court confirmed the ad-interim bail earlier granted to Imran on the previously submitted bail bonds.
In his arguments, Khan’s counsel Babar Awan said that the PTI chief has been charged and his only role of raising proverbial lalkara was attributed to him.
On the other hand, prosecutor Shafqaat Chaudhry argued that the accused remained an absconder for a sufficient length of time; therefore, the extraordinary concession of bail could not be exercised in his favour.