Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Babar Awan said on Wednesday that Imran Khan would appear before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) tomorrow (Thursday) to seek bail in the terrorism case registered against him by the coalition government.
In a video message shared on PTI’s Twitter handle, Awan said that the PTI chief chaired a meeting of the party’s legal committee earlier today in which it was decided that an application seeking the ex-prime minister’s bail would be filed in an ATC in the capital.
“Imran Khan will go there himself,” he clarified. He further added that both the international and local media were asking about the issue.
“This fake case […] in which there was neither a blast nor a Kalashnikov used […] and the police built up charges of terrorism, destroying Pakistan’s narrative developed over the last 20 years against terrorism.”
PTI leader said that human rights activists, international media, and even the United Nations had expressed concern over the matter.
Terror case: IHC grants pre-arrest bail to Imran Khan till August 25
“God willing, we will all go together tomorrow,” he added.
Last week, Imran was booked under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (punishment for acts of terrorism) regarding his comments during his Islamabad rally.
The first information report (FIR) was registered at Islamabad’s Margalla police station under the complaint of magistrate Ali Javed.
The FIR argued that Imran’s speech was meant to terrorize the top police officials and the judiciary so they could not perform their functions and abstain from pursuing any action against any PTI-related individual(s) if required to do so.
The magistrate argued that Imran’s speech had spread fear and uncertainty among the police, judges, and the nation. It stated that country’s peace had been harmed and legal action should be pursued against the accused and exemplary punishment to be meted out.
On Monday, Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted three-day pre-arrest bail to the former prime minister in the terror case filed against him.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad police on Tuesday registered another case against former prime minister Imran Khan and other leaders of his party for allegedly violating Section 144 in the capital on August 20. Murad Saeed, Faisal Javed Khan, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Asad Umar, Raja Khurram Nawaz, Ali Nawaz Awan, Faisal Vawda, Shahzad Wasim, Sadaqat Ali Abbasi, Shibli Faraz, Fawad Chaudhry, Saifullah Khan Niazi, Shehryar Afridi, Fayyazul Hasan Chohan, Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Asad Qaiser, Zaheer Abbas Khokar and Major Ghulam Sarwar were the other PTI leaders nominated in the FIR.
The FIR added that during the rally, the Islamabad police had made announcements via loudspeakers that Section 144 had been imposed in the city and a ban had been imposed on rallies.
Earlier, in a petition filed by PTI lawyer Faisal Chaudhry and Babar Awan, the former PM said that he had no criminal record and had never been convicted.
The PTI chairman maintained that he was ready to appear before the court whenever summoned.