Pakistani ex-premier Khan gets temporary bail in terrorism case

ISLAMABAD:  Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan was granted interim bail by Islamabad’s anti-terrorism court on Thursday in a hearing held amid tight security.

The pre-arrest bail has been granted till September 1 against a surety of Rs100,000. Khan will now be required to appear before the court again on September 1.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan was charged with threatening government officials under the country’s anti-terrorism act on Sunday, a day after he criticized the police and a judicial officer at one of the largest rallies in Islamabad on August 20. Khan vowed to sue police officers and a female judge as he alleged that his close aide Shahbaz Gill, arrested on sedition charges, had been tortured in police custody. The police and government have denied the claims.

On Thursday, Khan while talking to reporters outside the court claimed that the terrorism charges against him were politically motivated as the current government feared his party’s growing popularity as they are “winning by-elections, holding biggest rallies in the country’s history.”

Khan said Pakistan had become a “laughing stock” in the world, adding that his party member Shahbaz Gill “was subjected to torture and sexual abuse, and in response, I said I would take legal action against police officers involved and the magistrate who sent him back to police custody despite torture. But instead, I was booked in a terror case.”

The police case against Imran Khan says that he had “terrorised and threatened top police officials and a respected female additional sessions judge” in his address.

Commenting on the development, PTI focal person on international media, Raoof Hasan, told Gulf News that the coalition government and ruling political parties “know they cannot compete with Khan in political domain hence they are trying to disqualify him on non-political grounds” but the political party “will continue its struggle within the ambit of law”.

The former cricket star Imran Khan, who came into power in 2018, was ousted in April in a no-confidence vote in parliament. Legal experts say Khan could be disqualified for five years from politics if convicted.

Khan has been booked under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) which is related to punishment for acts of terrorism. Talking to Gulf News, Barrister Mohammad Ahmad Pansota said that he is of the view that “the charges against Imran Khan do not qualify as a threat as defined under ATA, 1997 and the FIR violates Supreme Court judgment that says an offence, howsoever shocking, brutal, gruesome or horrifying, cannot be termed as terrorism if it is not committed with the design or purpose mentioned in clauses (b) or (c) of Section 6 (1) of ATA.” He said that “Imran Khan had simply expressed his intent to initiate legal proceedings” in his speech, adding that the act “was meant to deal with terrorists, not for the political witch-hunt.”

Earlier this week, the United Nations chief is “aware” of the recent terrorism charges against Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan and has called for an “impartial legal process”, the UN chief’s spokesperson said.