Latest Imran Khan arrest updates: Ex-Pakistan PM granted bail

The PTI says Khan will depart for his Zaman Park residence in Lahore from the Islamabad High Court.

The party said in a tweet that Khan will be accompanied by supporters along his journey.

Lahore is the provincial capital of the eastern province of Punjab and is located 380km (236 miles) south of Islamabad, the federal capital.

Khan has asked how he could be held responsible for any “reaction” in the country to his arrest.

“I will be arrested again, and there will be a reaction, and then I will be held responsible,” he told reporters inside the courtroom after being granted bail. “How can I be responsible for this? When the army arrests me as if I am a terrorist, will I still be responsible for a reaction? I do not know what is happening in the country.”

He added that when a crowd has no leader, it has no control.

“We have had historic rallies, and we never had any such issues. There were sit-ins under my leadership and my control. I have always warned to not take the country to a point from where it gets out of our hands,” he said.

According to media reports, Khan is still waiting to receive written orders from the court, after which he is expected to return to Zaman Park, his Lahore residence.

After being granted bail, Khan has blamed the army chief, General Syed Asim Munir, for the situation in the country.

“It’s not the security institution; it is just one man, the army chief. There is no democracy in the army. The army is getting maligned by what is happening right now in the country,” Khan told reporters in the courtroom.

“That one man is afraid that when I come to power, I will remove him from his positions, but I will do no such thing.”

The Islamabad High Court has ordered that Khan cannot be arrested in any case which were registered against him in Lahore or Islamabad till at least May 15.

According to media reports, the ex-prime minister will depart once written orders are issued after today’s hearings.

Reacting to the Islamabad High Court’s decision to grant bail to Khan, Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah says such a ruling had never been issued before.

“There is no precedent of such a verdict given to anybody. However, court orders will not be violated,” he said, while speaking to a private news channel.

Sanaullah said the government will appeal to cancel Khan’s bail will give him no concessions.

Moreover, he said on the issue of internet restrictions in the country, saying the government had planned to shut it off for two to three days – but will consult Prime Minister Sharif on future steps to potentially restore it.

Thousands protested in a show of anger over the past few days after Khan’s arrest earlier this week in a corruption case – much of it directed at the military.

Pakistan is already dealing with multiple challenges – from an economic crisis to the aftermath of catastrophic floods.

Watch below:

Prime Minister Sharif has said the protests over the past couple of days could not be called “constitutional and democratic”.

“This is terrorism and anti-nationalism which cannot be accepted under any circumstances,” Sharif said, according to a statement from his office.

During a cabinet meeting earlier today, Sharif criticised what it called an “extraordinary intervention” of the country’s Supreme Court chief justice in the matter of Khan’s arrest on Tuesday – which the court declared illegal on Thursday.

“This is a shameful stain on the forehead of justice,” Sharif said, calling the top court for its “double standards”.

The PTI says peaceful protests will continue until its leader, Khan, reaches a safe place after he was granted bail.

“All party organisations will offer funeral prayers in absentia for the martyrs in their respective areas this evening,” the PTI posted on Twitter.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that the PTI leadership is trying to push the country, which is already facing a myriad of challenges, towards destruction.

“The horrible role PTI leadership has played in bringing Pakistan to the brink of destruction, it has become a big question mark for the country,” the prime minister remarked during a cabinet meeting.

In another relief for opposition leader Khan, the Islamabad High Court has instructed authorities to not arrest the former prime minister until May 17 in any case filed against him after May 9.

At least three new cases were registered against Imran Khan after he was detained in the Al-Qadir Trust case on Tuesday.

Khan’s lawyers had earlier approached the court to grant Khan protective bail in all cases filed.

After a short hearing, an Islamabad High Court bench has granted Khan a two week bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

An order on the decision is yet to be issued. Read more here.

A two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court has resumed the hearing of ex-PM Khan’s bail plea after a nearly two-hour break.

Earlier, one of Khan’s lawyers, Babar Awan, expressed his concerns, alleging that police from the eastern province of Punjab had been called to Islamabad to arrest Khan.

“Why does the government want to arrest him?” he asked. The lawyer said that if Khan is arrested again, it will be unconstitutional.

Khan tells reporters he was “abducted” from the Islamabad High Court premises on Tuesday and there was no reason to arrest him.

“I was abducted,” he said while waiting for the resumption of his hearing in the same court.

“And when I was taken away, only then I was shown the warrant for my arrest. Is there a law of jungle? And the military abducted me. Where is the police? Where is the law? It almost seems like martial law has been declared here,” he said.

Mohammed Faisal, a food delivery driver in Karachi, has lost 6,000 rupees ($20) over the past three days.

The 26-year-old relies on the WhatsApp messaging service to receive and track the locations of his food orders.

He uses his trusty motorbike and a smartphone with mobile broadband internet to traverse the main roads, narrow streets and densely populated neighbourhoods in Pakistan’s largest and most populous city.

Read more here.

Hyperbole is something that comes easy to Pakistanis, especially when it comes to politics, and in the political lexicon of Pakistan, the word “unprecedented” has been overused to the point of becoming meaningless. Every once in a while though, it fits.

After the dramatic arrest of wheelchair-bound Khan from the premises of the Islamabad High Court by a large contingent of paramilitary troops, it was as if a reservoir of rage had burst open, spilling red onto the streets with the floodwaters inundating hitherto sacrosanct shores.

The rage isn’t new. We have seen many violent protests and will no doubt continue to see them, but the targets this time were those who have historically been off-limits to even the angriest of mobs: the symbols and strongholds of the powerful military establishment.

Read more here.

Khan’s hearing has been delayed for prayers, the court says.

The opposition leader had arrived in court 45 minutes after the scheduled time ordered on Thursday by Pakistan’s Supreme Court.

Khan was brought under strict security by police as lawyers present in the compound chanted slogans in support of the former prime minister.

Islamabad Police says in a statement that the army has been deployed in the red zone of the capital, the site of many government offices.

“There will be no compromise on the public order of Islamabad. The situation in Islamabad is normal,” the statement said.

Internet and data service restrictions are still in place across Pakistan since they began on Tuesday after Khan was arrested.

Major social media platforms – including Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram – remain inaccessible while mobile data services are also severely affected.

The Global Nework Initiative, an international body for internet rights, urged the government to lift the restrictions.

“Disruptions to digital services not only violate human rights, but also risk the safety of citizens, harm the economy, and hurt local businesses,” it said in a statement.