The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday granted pre-arrest bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan till March 9 over charges of unlawfully selling gifts received from heads of other nations and foreign dignitaries.
The judgement came within hours after an Islamabad sessions court issued the warrant against the Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and said the case was adjourned till March 7. District and Session court judge Iqbal remarked that the charge sheet was to be filed today, and the accused did not appear before the court despite repeated summons.
Shortly after the setback, Imran reached the Islamabad High Court, where he had previously applied for pre-arrest bail and the removal of terrorism clauses in his cases.
Khan had secured bail in two other cases — pertaining to prohibited funding and terrorism as he appeared before three courts today to attend the hearings of multiple cases. These included a prohibited funding case in a banking court, an anti-terrorism case, and the Toshakhana and an attempt to murder cases in the same court.
He was also granted interim bail in the attempted murder case. The attempt to murder case against Khan was filed by a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha last year.
Khan has been embroiled in legal troubles for buying gifts, including an expensive Graff wristwatch he had received as the premier at a discounted price from the state depository called Toshakhana and selling them for profit.
70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician was disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) under Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution over “false statements and incorrect declaration” for buying gifts, including an expensive Graff wristwatch, a pair of cufflinks, an expensive pen, a ring, and four Rolex watches that he had received as prime minister at a discounted price and selling them for profit.
In January, Khan had moved filed a petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking an order to stop the ECP from a process to remove him from the party chairperson office over the Toshakhana case.
The cricketer-turned-politician in his petition asserted that the law does not place any bar on a convict from becoming an office-bearer of a political party. He also accused the ECP has exceeded its powers by trying to remove him as the PTI chairperson.
Khan was ousted as prime minister in April last year after the National Assembly passed a no-confidence motion against him. The PTI chief, who came to power in 2018, is the only Pakistani Prime Minister to be ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.
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