Pakistan's Imran Khan appears before anti-terrorism court, submits surety bonds in four cases

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. File Photo/AFP

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan Tuesday submitted surety bonds in connection with his pre-arrest bail till June 2 after appearing before an anti-terrorism court in the cases, including the attack on Lahore Corp Commander House.

Quoting a court official, PTI reported that Khan appeared before the ATC Lahore judge Ijaz Ahmad Buttar and submitted surety bonds worth PKR 100,000 each in the four terrorism cases in which he had already been given pre-arrest bail till June 2.

A group of lawyers chanted slogans in Khan's favour as the 70-year-old chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party appeared in the court amid high security, a group of lawyers chanted slogans in his favour.

Khan's counsel also challenged the search warrants of the former premier's Zaman Park Lahore residence in the anti-terrorism court. The judge summoned the Punjab police DIG (operations) for next hearing and directed him to submit a reply.

On May 9, violent protests erupted after the arrest of Khan by paramilitary Rangers in Islamabad. His party workers vandalised over 20 military installations and government buildings, including the Lahore Corps Commander House, Mianwali airbase and the ISI building in Faisalabad. The Army headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was also attacked by the mob for the first time. Khan was later released on bail.

Law enforcement agencies have arrested over 10,000 workers of Khan's Pakistan party across Pakistan, 4,000 of them from Punjab.

Police put the death toll in violent clashes to 10 while Khan's party claims 40 of its workers lost their lives in the firing by security personnel.

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Meanwhile, two lawyers of Khan appeared before a joint investigation team probing the attack on Corps Commander House known as Jinnah House in Lahore.

The joint investigation team - formed by the Punjab interim government to probe arson attacks on Jinnah House and the Askari Corporate Tower in Lahore on May 9 - had summoned Khan for Tuesday to record his statement but he sent his lawyers instead.

Khan has maintained that he has no role in the attack on military installations especially the Jinnah House as he was in jail during the period. The ATC had directed Khan to join the police investigation in the attack on high-profile Lahore Corps Commander House.

Meanwhile, the Lahore anti-terrorism court (ATC) has disposed of PTI chief Imran Khan's petition seeking the withdrawal/ cancellation of a search warrant issued for his Zaman Park residence, observing that the warrant has "become infructuous".

ATC judge Aber Gul Khan issued the judgement, citing the investigating officer and others' statements who maintained they had not searched Imran's residence yet.

"The law on the subject is very clear and the search warrant was issued for the immediate search of the house of the accused which cannot be extended for an indefinite period. The search warrant has already become infructuous due to lapse of considerable time," the court said in its ruling. (With additional reporting by PTI)