Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan who was booked in an anti-terror case was granted bail till September 12 on Thursday against a bond of Pakistan Rupees 1 lakh, sources told ABP News. Khan appeared before the Anti Terror Court in Islamabad.
The bail order comes a day after a top Pakistani judge had expressed his disappointment over Khan’s written response in a contempt case and had ordered a second reply to be submitted within a week, days after his controversial remark against a female sessions judge during a rally in the national capital recently.
During a rally in Islamabad on August 20, the cricketer-turned politician and chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) party warned additional district and sessions judge Zeba Chaudhry that she would also face dire consequences.
Khan had made the statement in the context of his party member and aide Shahbaz Gill, arrested on sedition charges, whose physical remand was approved by Chaudhry on the request of the Islamabad Police.
On Wednesday, Khan appeared before the Islamabad High Court, where the Chief Justice Athar Minallah grilled him over his written response to the show cause, terming it as “insufficient and unbecoming” of a politician of his stature, as per a report by news agency PTI.
A five-member bench, comprising Chief Justice Minallah, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Justice Babar Sattar, heard the case on Wednesday.
The judge went on to add that he was expecting that Khan would admit to making a mistake in his reply.
“I was expecting that you would go to the courts and say that you trust them (the courts),” adding that the response disappointed him.
The court agreed and granted another chance to submit a “well-considered” response, showing that the former premier did understand the severity of the matter.
Meanwhile, as per another PTI report, the ex-premier has showed his willingness to withdraw his controversial remarks against Chaudhry but stopped short of tendering an apology.
(With inputs from ANI)