Pakistan court grants bail to Prime Minister Imran Khan in three terrorism cases | World news

A Pakistani terrorism court on Saturday granted pre-arrest bail to Prime Minister Imran Khan who has been suspended till April 4 in three terrorism cases registered against him by the Lahore Police.

Khan, 70, appeared before the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) here and was followed by many of his supporters.

Khan told ATC magistrate Ejaz Ahmad Buttar that he wanted to join the investigation in three cases of terrorism registered against him by the Lahore Racecourse police.

“He said that although these cases are false, he has to join the investigation and for that reason, he is applying for bail before arrest,” a court official told PTI after the hearing.

“While granting pre-arrest bail till April 4, the judge ordered Mr Khan to appear at every court hearing. He also asked Mr Khan not to bring a large number of his supporters to the court,” the official said. “If such a large number of people follow you in court next time, I will not hear the case,” the judge told Khan.

The Lahore Police has registered these three cases against Khan in connection with the clashes between PTI workers and the police during an operation to arrest Khan in the Toshakhana bribery case.

On Friday, the Lahore High Court extended Khan’s anticipatory bail till March 27 in five terrorism cases registered against him in Islamabad.

The former president faces 140 cases under terrorism, murder, attempted murder and defamation registered against him in the past 11 months by the PMLN-led coalition government.

Taking to Twitter on Saturday, Khan said that he will outline his vision of ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ (real freedom) at a rally planned here tonight and urged his supporters not to back down under any circumstances from come to

Khan said his party’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rally at Minar-i-Pakistan will be the biggest so far and will break all records.

“Tonight will be our 6th jalsa at Minar in Pakistan & my heart tells me it will break all records. I am calling everyone in Lahore to come after Tarawih prayers. I will give me a vision of Haqeeqi Azadi & how how can we pull Pak out of it. the mess the cabal of crooks has put our country in,” the PTI leader tweeted.

Speaking to the media outside Lahore’s Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), Khan said there will be a public response on Saturday to whatever method the government takes.

“We will not back down under any circumstances,” Khan was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper.

Noting that the government will put all kinds of obstacles to prevent people from attending the rally, Khan said he wanted to remind people that it is their fundamental right to attend a political rally.

“Everybody must assert their rights as people of a free country and come to Minar in Pakistan,” he tweeted.

Containers have been placed at various locations in Lahore ahead of the PTI rally at Minar-i-Pakistan tonight.

Police have arrested over 50 PTI workers from different areas, Geo News reported. However, Khan said that a total of “1,600 of our workers have been taken away because they wanted to fill our Minar-i-Pakistan assembly today.”

According to PTI’s official Twitter account, the rally will begin after Taraveeh prayers at 9 pm (local time).

The rally was originally scheduled for March 11 and March 12 but was postponed after the party failed to get relief from either the Election Commission or the Lahore High Court against the Punjab caretaker government’s order imposing Article 144. regional capital.

The interim Punjab government has imposed Article 144 referring to a Pakistan Super League match at the Qaddafi Stadium and a cricket match in the city.

However, in a notification on March 12, the administration has allowed the PTI to hold a public rally on Monday (March 13) but mentioned that it would pose a “high security risk due to general and specific threats to political gatherings and earlier. an example of an attack on the former Prime Minister. “

Khan, who came to power in 2018, is the only Pakistani Prime Minister to be removed in a no-confidence vote in Parliament.