The Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted former Pakistani Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan a pre-arrest bail a day after an arrest warrant was issued against him over his disparaging remarks against police officials and a female judge in a rally in August.
The IHC approved the request for bail during a special hearing on Saturday. While the court refused Khan’s request to cancel the warrant, he secured bail after presenting a Rs 10,000 ($44) bond. The court also directed Khan to appear in a hearing before the local court on 7 October.
After securing bail, Khan challenged the government to arrest him instead of using warrants to stifle dissent and opposition. He said, “This is the movement of real freedom, I am ready to go to jail and my nation as well. We are not afraid of jail.”
The local magistrate in Islamabad issued the arrest warrant on Saturday after Khan failed to appear for a hearing on the issue. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah clarified that there was “no question of arrest,” as the warrant was a routine procedure and the charges against Khan were for bailable offences. Likewise, the Islamabad Police said it had urged the sessions court to issue the warrant to ensure Khan’s presence in court for upcoming hearings.
Protesting the warrant, hundreds of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) workers and supporters gathered outside his residence in Islamabad, while thousands of others protested in cities across the country. Speaking from outside Khan’s house, PTI Vice President Fawad Chaudhry criticised the warrant as a “needless measure.”
امپورٹڈ حکومت کی جانب سے عمران خان کے وارنٹ گرفتاری جاری ہونے کے بعد مراد سعید کا بنی گالہ سے پیغام@MuradSaeedPTI#کپتان_ہماری_ریڈ_لائن pic.twitter.com/mdKqS9VbEm
— PTI (@PTIofficial) October 1, 2022
There were rumours that authorities had deployed 300 police officials to raid Khan’s residence in Banigala and arrest him after the warrant on Saturday. PTI official Murad Saeed released a video message from Banigala declaring that a police van had arrived at Khan’s house to arrest him.
However, the Islamabad Police retorted that the rumours were “baseless” and urged citizens not to “listen to propaganda.”
The government previously initiated anti-terrorism charges against Khan after he threatened to take action against Judge Zeba Chaudhary and other officials for their role in arresting and torturing his Chief of Staff Shahbaz Gill.
The IHC dropped the charges last month after raising concern that allowing the case would “open a floodgate” of cases under anti-terrorism laws. Thereafter, the case was transferred from the anti-terrorism court to a local sessions court.
Khan is also facing contempt charges at the IHC, which will hear the case today to decide whether to frame charges for his comments during the August rally.
Khan has previously apologised for his comments during a hearing on 22 September and vowed to refrain from making such statements against public officials. As a result, the court delayed his contempt indictment.
Although did not formally apologise for the statement during his three written apologies to the IHC, he admitted that he “might have crossed a red line” during his speech and vowed to take any steps deemed necessary by the IHC.
If hypocrisy had a face, it would look like you. Cipher is real & that's why you had meetings on record about it. The beggar mentality of yours is the thing that's harming Pakistan, Imran Khan and Awaam are sick of you and your family. Leave office now or wait for the Long March! https://t.co/AY02F8dRi5
— PTI (@PTIofficial) September 30, 2022
In other related developments, the Pakistani cabinet approved an inquiry into a series of audio leaks on Friday. On 28 and 30 September, a series of informal conversations between Khan, former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and other PTI officials were leaked, wherein the leaders were heard contemplating using a “cypher” that the PTI argued was evidence of a “foreign conspiracy” to oust Khan for political purposes.
After Friday’s meeting, the cabinet issued a memo highlighting that the copy of the “cypher” had gone missing. It also formed a special committee to ascertain the action needed to be taken against Khan and his associates. On Saturday, the committee suggested that the cypher was an issue of “national security” and legal action had to be taken against those involved in taking the copy of the cypher from the PM’s residence.
In response, Khan “thanked” the incumbent government for “deliberately leaking” the audio, which he declared proved that “the cypher was a reality.” The former PM further refuted opposition leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s claim that the cypher had been missing, claiming that the original copy is in the Foreign Office. He also reiterated the contents of the communication from the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, who allegedly warned of “consequences” if the no-confidence motion against Khan back in April failed.
Against this backdrop, Khan has indicated that he is preparing a new ‘long march’ on Islamabad.