Pakistan: HC grants interim bail to Imran Khan in seven cases

In Pakistan, the Islamabad High Court on Monday granted interim bail to Imran Khan in seven different cases registered against him following clashes at the federal judicial complex here earlier this month when the former prime minister arrived from Lahore to appear in a corruption case hearing. A two-member division bench of the High Court (IHC), comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, heard the bail applications.Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, sought interim bails in seven cases registered against him in Golra, Bara Kahu, Ramna, Khanna and CTD police stations.During the hearing , Justice Farooq reprimanded Islamabad Attorney General Jehangir Jadoon for taking back security provided to the former premier.The court also sought a response from the federal government on why the security was recalled.Justice Farooq reprimanded Jadoon for taking back security from Imran: “You are the government’s representative but you are a law officer. You have done a wrong act by taking back security from a former premier.”

Meanwhile, PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi has thrown the ball in the government’s court by asking it to take the next step for talks with the PTI. “We never hesitate from holding talks but their intention has a taint … they talk about holding dialogue but at the same time out supporters and activists are being picked up,” he said at in a media talk in Islamabad on Monday.