Terrorism case, ATC approves Imran’s bail till September 1

Islamabad: An anti-terrorism court in Islamabad on Thursday approved the interim bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and former premier Imran Khan after he appeared before the court in a terrorism case registered against him.

Imran was booked in a terrorism case late Saturday on the complaint of Islamabad Saddar Magistrate Ali Javed for threatening the additional sessions judge of the federal capital, Zeba Chaudhry, and police officials.

The former prime minister’s bail was approved against a surety bond of Rs100,000 and he was ordered to appear before the court on September 1.

However, the court rejected a request by PTI counsel Babar Awan for an extended bail. He prayed the PTI chief is contesting elections in nine constituencies. The court stated that it is granting interim bail till September 1 for now.

The PTI chairman, addressing the media after his bail approval, said he had been charged because “they [govt] are afraid of the PTI’s popularity” which was “winning by-elections across the country”.

“This is their attempt at a technical knockout,” he said, before adding “whatever decisions they are taking, they should think of the country first”.

PTI’s Fawad Chaudhry said that the party will proceed to “move the high court for quashing” the charges against Imran and remained confident that “the FIR will be cancelled”.

He further expressed hope that “by September 10, we will rid ourselves of this government”.