Islamabad: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has been charged under anti-terrorism legislation after he gave a fiery speech to supporters at the weekend in which he vowed to sue police officers and a female judge and alleged a close aide had been tortured after his arrest.
Khan will have to “face the law for threatening and hurling abuses”, tweeted the interior minister, Rana Sanaullah. Hundreds of Khan’s supporters gathered outside his hilltop mansion in the capital, Islamabad, on Monday, vowing to prevent his arrest.
The protesters chanted slogans against the government of the prime minister Shehbaz Sharif which took over after Khan was ousted in a confidence vote in April. A court in Islamabad issued a so-called “protective bail” for Khan for the next three days, preventing police from arresting him over the charges until at least Thursday.
Tensions escalated sharply on Saturday when Pakistan’s media watchdog banned television channels from broadcasting live addresses by Khan after his rally in Islamabad. A police report of the rally cited Khan’s comments that he “would not spare” Islamabad’s police chief and a female judge for the arrest of his aide. “The purpose of the speech was to spread terror amongst the police and the judiciary and prevent them from doing their duty,” police said in the report.
Under Pakistan’s legal system, police file what is known as a first information report about the charges against an accused to a magistrate judge, who allows the investigation to move forward. Typically, police then arrest and question the accused. The use of anti-terrorism laws as the basis of cases against political leaders is not uncommon in Pakistan, where Khan’s government also used them against opponents and critics.
At his latest rally on Sunday night he accused “neutrals” – a term he uses to allude to Pakistan’s powerful military – of being responsible for a crackdown on his party and workers. “A plan has been made to place our party against the wall. I assure you, that the Sri Lankan situation is going to happen here,” Khan threatened, referencing the recent economic protests that toppled that island nation’s government. “Now we are following law and constitution. But when a political party strays from that path, the situation inside Pakistan, who will stop the public? There are 220 million people.” PTI went to court to challenge the charges against Khan.
Khan secures protective bail
The Islamabad high court, meanwhile granted protective bail to Khan in the terrorism case.
Khan’s lawyers filed a petition seeking pre-arrest bail on his behalf. The petition stated that Khan was a “target of the ruling party for his fearless criticism, and extremely bold and blunt stance against corruption and corrupt politicians. ” Noting that the government had registered a total of 17 FIRs against Khan, the plea alleged that the government had decided to “cross all limits” to arrest Imran “under false accusations” and was “hell-bent to sort out the petitioner and his party at all costs”.
