Former Pakistani prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan. AFP
Former Pakistani prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan. AFP
Former Pakistani prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan on Thursday secured bail from the Islamabad High Court over new murder charges, blocking his arrest in that case for 14 days, his lawyer said.
Khan was arrested on May 9 and held for three days, triggering violent protests by his followers. He is now free on bail in a range of other criminal cases.
The PTI chief travelled to the capital from his Lahore home to seek bail in the murder case and extend his bail in over a dozen other cases, to avoid a new arrest, said the lawyer, Barrister Gohar Khan.
The 70-year-old who become prime minister in 2018 has been embroiled in a confrontation with the powerful military since he was ousted in a no-confidence vote last year. The military has ruled directly or overseen civilian governments throughout the history of a country in which political confrontations are often fought out in court.
Khan’s May 9 arrest on corruption charges, which he denies, sparked protests by his supporters who ransacked military facilities, raising new worries about the stability of the nuclear armed country of 220 million people as it struggles with its worst economic crisis in decades.
Since Khan was freed, new charges against him have been piling up. On Wednesday, police named him in connection with the murder of a lawyer seeking sedition proceedings against him.
Khan says he is facing nearly 150 cases and denies guilt in all of them.
Khan’s lawyer, Gohar Khan, said the former prime minister would on Thursday approach anti-terrorism courts, anti-graft courts and the High Court in Islamabad to appeal for bail in connection with more than a dozen cases.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.