Umamah Bakharia | ub@radioislam.co.za

2 min read
17 March 2023 | 19:50 CAT

The Lahore High Court has granted protective bail to former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in relation to multiple legal cases filed against him earlier this week.

Former Pakistani prime minister, Imran Khan.
Picture credit: PBS

The development came after days of clashes between Khan’s supporters and security forces outside his residence in Lahore, after police tried to arrest Khan on a separate court order.

Khan arrived in the Lahore court on Friday with his supporters to seek protective bail in the cases that were filed  in Lahore and Islamabad.

These accusations include rioting, attempt to murder, abetment of violence and criminal conspiracy under the country’s anti-terrorism law, among others.

Khan who heads the Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was granted a 10-day relief of the cases by a two-member bench and set a 24 March deadline for the cases registered in Islamabad.

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder reported from Lahore that the cases “pertained to the resistance that Khan’s supporters showed towards the police when they came to arrest him”.

In a separate case on Friday, the Islamabad High Court decided to suspend the arrest warrant issued against Khan in an alleged corruption case. The court ordered the former prime minister to appear before a lower court in the capital on Saturday.

The warrant relates to his non-appearance in the court to answer a case brought by the Election Commission of Pakistan which accuses him of not declaring gifts received during his time as prime minister from 2018 to 2022. Khan has denied the charges, saying they are political motives aimed at sabotaging him.

Since being removed in a vote of no confidence in April 2022, he has been holding public rallies to demand immediate national elections. He was shot and wounded at one of these rallies in November.