ISLAMABAD: (HRNW) The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday granted 14-day protective bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in a senior Supreme Court lawyer’s murder case.
The former premier along with others was booked in the case of Abdul Razzaq Shar, who was shot dead by armed motorcyclists on Airport Road in Quetta, Balochistan, on Wednesday.
A first information report (FIR) had been registered on the complaint of the slain lawyer’s son advocate Siraj Ahmed in Quetta, under the charges of murder, Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and other provisions.
The ousted prime minister is due to appeal to several other courts for bail on a growing list of charges against him in a bid to avert his arrest.
He first appeared before the high court where a two-member bench, headed by the IHC chief justice conducted a hearing on the plea filed in the lawyer’s murder case.
The court also directed the PTI cheif to appear before the court after two weeks.
Meanwhile, a set of fresh pleas was filed in the IHC earlier in the day, for ex-PM’s bail in five new cases related to the May 9 protests and another case of fake Toshakhana receipt.
The counsel had requested an immediate hearing on the pleas today.
Separately, a hearing on the PTI chief’s bail pleas in eight cases will be held later at an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in the Islamabad judicial complex and another at a local court present inside the same complex.
After the hearings, the PTI chief will appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) at its Rawalpindi office for the investigations of the NCA case.
NAB’s combined investigation team (CIT) had summoned the former prime minister to answer the questionnaire, given to him on his last appearance on May 23.
The ex-PM is facing a barrage of legal woes since his ouster in a no-confidence vote in April last year by a united opposition led by his successor, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
He claims that he is facing nearly 150 cases, including the infamous £190 million settlement case related to the transfer of multi-million pounds from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), and denies all of them.
New charges against him have been piling up since his May 9 arrest on corruption charges, which sparked protests by his supporters who ransacked military facilities.