ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s anti-terrorism court granted former prime minister Imran Khan bail in multiple cases on Tuesday as he continued to allege that the country’s powerful authorities plan to rearrest him. Khan’s wife, Bushra Begum, was also granted protective bail until May 31 in a corruption case by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court in Islamabad.
The developments came as the crackdown on the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers continued; its leaders have been quitting the party to avoid the wrath of the powerful authorities.
The party suffered a serious blow on Tuesday when former human right minister Shireen Mazari, one of the most prominent PTI leaders who had been arrested multiple times in recent days, quit the party. She cited health issues and the ordeal that her daughter had to go through during her incarceration as reasons for her quitting politics.
Khan, who faces over 100 legal cases, appeared before the NAB office in the garrison city of Rawalpindi in a land scam case after the anti-terrorism court granted him bail until June 8 in eight cases related to violence in Islamabad in March this year.
The anti-graft watchdog had summoned Khan in the Al Qadir Trust case, in which he had been arrested from the Islamabad high court premises on May 9.The couple are accused of accepting a gift of property to build a private university — Al Qadir University — in exchange for providing benefits to a real estate tycoon. Khan denies the charge, saying he and his wife were not involved in any wrongdoing.
Shireen Mazari, before announcing her resignation at a presser, condemned the violence that ensued on May 9 following the arrest of the PTI chief. Following Mazari’s announcement, another PTI leader, Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, announced he was quitting PTI, claiming that Imran Khan“trained” party supporters to “move towards” military installations during a rally on May 1.
Imran claimed that members of his party were being forced to leave the party at “gunpoint”. Speaking to journalists at ananti-terrorism court, Imran said, “People are not leaving the party on their own, they are being forced to do so, and that too at gunpoint.” He maintained, however, that he was not bothered by several key PTI leaders leaving, saying that “parties never die like that; they are weeded out like the ruling coalition PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) is eroding, the way their votebank is depleting.”
“I am only worried about the jailed workers, especially the women,” he added.
The developments came as the crackdown on the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers continued; its leaders have been quitting the party to avoid the wrath of the powerful authorities.
The party suffered a serious blow on Tuesday when former human right minister Shireen Mazari, one of the most prominent PTI leaders who had been arrested multiple times in recent days, quit the party. She cited health issues and the ordeal that her daughter had to go through during her incarceration as reasons for her quitting politics.
Khan, who faces over 100 legal cases, appeared before the NAB office in the garrison city of Rawalpindi in a land scam case after the anti-terrorism court granted him bail until June 8 in eight cases related to violence in Islamabad in March this year.
The anti-graft watchdog had summoned Khan in the Al Qadir Trust case, in which he had been arrested from the Islamabad high court premises on May 9.The couple are accused of accepting a gift of property to build a private university — Al Qadir University — in exchange for providing benefits to a real estate tycoon. Khan denies the charge, saying he and his wife were not involved in any wrongdoing.
Shireen Mazari, before announcing her resignation at a presser, condemned the violence that ensued on May 9 following the arrest of the PTI chief. Following Mazari’s announcement, another PTI leader, Fayyazul Hassan Chohan, announced he was quitting PTI, claiming that Imran Khan“trained” party supporters to “move towards” military installations during a rally on May 1.
Imran claimed that members of his party were being forced to leave the party at “gunpoint”. Speaking to journalists at ananti-terrorism court, Imran said, “People are not leaving the party on their own, they are being forced to do so, and that too at gunpoint.” He maintained, however, that he was not bothered by several key PTI leaders leaving, saying that “parties never die like that; they are weeded out like the ruling coalition PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) is eroding, the way their votebank is depleting.”
“I am only worried about the jailed workers, especially the women,” he added.