ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that due to the rising popularity of his party, “they are frightened and because of this fear they are trying to technically knockout him to save themselves”.

Khan said this talking to reporters after appearing before Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) judge Raja Jawad Abbas in a case where he is charged under 7 ATA for his controversial remarks against a female judge during a rally in the city last week. The court granted Khan interim pre-arrest bail against a surety of Rs100,000, as well as, barred the police from arresting Khan till September 1.

The PTI chief said that Pakistan is being mocked globally after a terrorism case was registered against him over his remarks in which he stated that he would take legal action against the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) responsible for the torture of his chief of staff Shahbaz Gill and the magistrate who remanded Gill into police custody despite torture being proven in court.

The former premier said that when the news regarding the registration of terrorism case against him spread across the world it gave an impression of Pakistan being a banana republic. They are trying to arrest a person who is the head of the biggest political party in the country, he said. “I want to tell those whoever are making or getting these decisions should think about the country”, he said.

Earlier, the motorcade carrying Khan arrived at the Federal Judicial Complex where the ATC is located from his Bani Gala residence amid tight security arrangements but security officials did not allow Khan’s car to enter the court premises of the judicial complex due to which he reached the anti-terrorism court on foot.

At the start of the hearing, Khan’s counsel Baber Awan filed a bail application and the court marked the attendance of the PTI chief. Opening his arguments, Khan’s counsel Awan termed the terrorism case against Imran Khan as political victimisation and sought his pre-arrest bail. He prayed that the police should be stopped from his arrest. In their petition, they said that the police lodged a false and baseless terrorism case against Khan as revenge. Imran neither committed any crime nor has any criminal record, the petition says.

Awan said that according to the prosecution, his client “threatened” the IGP, the DIG Islamabad, and a female judge during his address at a rally but they are not complainants, adding that a magistrate is a plaintiff as per the first information report (FIR). “Are the words ‘shame on you’, a threat,” he asked. He maintained that these words are often used in our society.

He argued that Imran Khan in his address during the rally warned that he would take legal action against the IGP and the DIG. Khan had warned about taking legal action but did not threaten to murder, he said adding that the PTI chief did not say that he would kill anybody.

Awan said that the FIR had been registered at the complaint of a magistrate, Ali Javed.

Awan, while reading out the FIR against Khan said that the charges against his client were of threatening IGP Islamabad, and Additional District and Session Judge (ADSJ) but none of the above were the petitioners in the case. The court after hearing the arguments of Khan’s counsel issued notice to the police and granted him interim bail till September 1.

The PTI leaders Asad Umar, Pervaiz Khattak, Fawad Chaudhry, Aamir Kiyani, Ali Nawaz Awan, and others, were present in the courtroom during the hearing. Comprehensive security arrangements were made in and around Federal Judicial Complex. Over 400 security personnel including Islamabad police and Frontier Constabulary (FC) were deployed for security duty on the occasion.

The police had blocked all roads leading to the judicial complex using barbed wires and placing cement blocks to restrict the entry of the general public into the vicinity. A large number of PTI’s supporters and workers had gathered outside the federal judicial complex ahead of the arrival of Khan to express solidarity with their party chief. The PTI’s workers chanted slogans in favour of the PTI chief and against the government. Meanwhile, additional sessions judge Tahir Abbas granted interim bail till September 7 in the case regarding the alleged violation of Section 144 against a surety of Rs5,000.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022