PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday granted transitory, protective bail for three weeks to former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan till June 25 in different cases registered against him in connection with May 25 ‘Azadi March’.
According to the details, PTI chairman Imran Khan filed a plea in PHC through his counsel Advocate Babar Awan.
Imran Khan also appeared before the court while the petition was heard by PHC Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan. The judge approved bail till June 25 and subsequently forwarded the orders to the additional session’s judge of Islamabad. The bail was approved against surety bonds worth Rs50,000. Imran was instructed to appear before the Islamabad sessions court before June 25. The PHC CJ, Qaiser Rashid Khan, also told Imran, who had appeared before the bench in person, not to talk on the premises of the high court.
After the PTI chairman ended his march, Imran and other leaders of his party were booked in 14 cases registered at multiple police stations across Islamabad over allegations of arson and vandalism in the capital.
On May 27, Islamabad police filed separate cases against 150 people including PTI Chairman Imran Khan and party leaders Asad Umar, Asad Qaiser among others over allegations of arson and vandalism in the federal capital during the long march on May 25.
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According to media reports, the footage of the Safe City cameras as well as those from private TV news channels had been included in the challans of the cases as evidence.
Two FIRs were registered at Kohsar police station over the complaint of Sub-Inspector Asif Raza and Sub-Inspector Ghulam Sarwar under Sections 109 (abetment), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 186 (obstructing public service), 188 (disobedience), 353 (assault on public servant), 427 (causing damage) and 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
In the other FIR, SI Sarwar stated that he and other police officers were on duty at Express Chowk when at 12:30am, around 100-150 PTI protesters, equipped with rods and inflammatory material, chanted slogans, incited people and set fire to the trees and Metro Bus station near Geo Chowk.
The FIR filed on SI Sarwar’s complaint named the PTI chief as well as Asad Umar, Imran Ismail, Raja Khurram Nawaz, Ali Amin Gandapur, Ali Nawaz Awan and other party leaders.
Imran Khan’s march for “haqeeqi azadi” — true freedom — was preceded by the authorities invoking Section 144, a measure used to curb gatherings. Shipping containers were put in place on major thoroughfares to block their path.
Undeterred by the moves, the marchers, who tried to force through the containers to make their way to Islamabad, were met with tear gas as police tried to disperse them. Police also charged at them with batons.
Television footage showed smoke rising from the ground and fires in the green belts adjacent to Islamabad’s main roads. The government claimed that the PTI supporters had set the fires whereas the claim from the PTI camp was that the fires were a result of police shelling. Neither claim could be independently verified.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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