A division bench of the Islamabad High Court granted bail to former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case on Friday.
This came a day after the Supreme Court declared his arrest from the IHC premises “invalid and unlawful."
The former prime minister has been granted two-week protective bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case. The court has ordered that Imran Khan is not to be arrested in any case until May 17. He was also granted bail in cases filed after May 9. The Islamabad High Court further added that the ruling is only applicable within the boundaries of Islamabad.
At the next hearing, all respondents in the case have been instructed to come prepared by a division bench consisting of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief has been accused of accepting bribes worth millions of Pakistani rupees to whitewash illegitimate earnings. His wife and former first lady of Pakistan Bushra Bibi is also accused of participating in the scandal.
Pakistan has been witnessing unrest since Tuesday following Imran Khan’s arrest. The army has been deployed in almost all major cities and Section 144 of the Pakistan Code of Criminal Procedure has been imposed in capital Islamabad.
More than 10 people have died and thousands have been injured as PTI workers clashed with law enforcement officials as well as with cadres of the parties forming the ruling coalition, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
Imran Khan’s legal team, represented by his lawyer Khawaja Haris, argued that the actions taken by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) were unlawful. He maintained that NAB was only authorized to issue an arrest warrant once an inquiry had been officially transformed into an investigation.
The former prime minister distanced himself away from the protests. According to a report by the Dawn, Imran Khan told mediapersons that he could not have stopped what was going on but said that he warned earlier that the arrest would lead to a reaction.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was left fuming as the unrest created allegedly by PTI cadres spiralled out of control. He is expected to hold a meeting with parties forming the ruling coalition to discuss the possibility of declaring an emergency.
(this is a breaking news development, more details will be added)