The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday reserved the ve🔯rdict on Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan's petition seeking bail in all cases registered against him in Punjab province following his arrest in a corruption case last week that sparked violent protests by his supporters.
Khan, 70, had filed t✱he plea on Saturday, a day after being rel𝄹eased on bail from Islamabad High Court (IHC).
At the outset of the hearing, the court inquired about the absence of Khan, the Pakistan Tehree🎐k-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief.
Respondinಌg to the query, Khan's lawyer said that he would appear before the court by 11 a🌜m.
The lawyer representing Punjab's interim goverꦰnment opposed the bail plea contending it was inadmissible.
"Imran Khan hasn't even appeared in the court and is seeking protectivꦿe b⛄ail," the lawyer maintained
At this, Khan's lawyer argued that the PTI chief was seeki♛ng pre-arrest baꩵil and not protective bail. He requested the court to send the case to a larger bench.
"I am being poliﷺtically victimised. There is a risk of arrest as police have nominat🎃ed me in several cases," the plea stated.
The PTI chief has made the Punj♌ab inspector general and advocate general respondents in the case.
Khan returned to his Lahore home on Saturday after having locked himself in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises for hours for fear of re-𝓡arrest despite being granted bail on Friday.
Meanwhile, the IHC exꦑtended Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan's𒐪 bail till June 8 in two cases pertaining to inciting violence and sedition.
The IHC had granted 70-year-old Khan bail, barring the authorities from arresting him in all the cas⛦es registered beyond May 9 and asked him to approach the Lahore High Court for further relief on May 15.
In the Al Qadi☂r Trust case, in which the National Accountability Bureau arrested the former cricketer-turned-politician on May 9, the IHC gran💟ted him pre-arrest bail for two weeks.
The Supreme Court had declared Khan’s arrest from the IHC premises illegal and referred😼 the matter to the IHC.
The Punjab police on May 10 booked Khan and hundreds of his party workers for𒀰 attacking and setting on fire the Corps Commander House in Lahore besides registering five other FIRs against him for inciting his supporters to attack and damage the state buildings and mili🦩tary installations.
Khan and his deputy Shah Mahmood Qureshi and others have been framed under murder, terroris⛄m and 20 other heinous offences for attacking the senior military🎃 commander's house known as 'Jinnah House' in Lahore Cantonment last Tuesday.
The arrest of Khan on Tuesday by the Pakistan Rangers at the IHC premises triggered unrest in Pakistan that continued till Friday and led to several deaths aཧnd doܫzens of military and state installations being destroyed by the protesters.
For the first time in Pakistan's history, the protesters stormed the army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi and aꦰlso torched the corps commander's house in Lahore.
Police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10 while Khan's party claims 40 of itꦚs workers lost their lives in the firing by security personnel.
Punjab Inspector General Police Dr Usman Anwar told a press conference on Sunday that over 3,500 people have been arrested in Punjꦜab province for their involvement in the violence that erupted after Khan's arrest. He said most of them will be tried in anti-terrorism courts.
Khan was ousted from power in April last year after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him b🌱ecause of his independent foreign policy decಌisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.
