LAHORE:An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday extended the interim bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan till May 4 in two cases.
ATC Judge Ijaz Ahmad Buttar conducted the hearing on bail petitions of Imran Khan in three cases.
At the start of the proceedings, the head of Joint Investigation Team (JIT), constituted by the Punjab government to probe 10 cases against PTI leadership, informed the court that the arrest of the PTI chief was not required in a case, registered under the charges of ransacking and setting the state properties ablaze.
At this, Imran Khan’s counsel withdrew the bail petition of his client in the matter. He further requested the court to mark the attendance of his client through video link in other two cases in view of the security threats.
To a court query, the prosecutor argued that he was not aware of the threats, and the police could inform about it.
The court, after hearing detailed arguments of the parties, reserved its verdict on the plea to mark the attendance of Imran Khan through video link.
Later, the court allowed the plea and attendance of the PTI chief was marked through video link.
Subsequently, the court extended the interim bail of Imran Khan till May 4 in two cases, besides dismissing his bail petition as withdrawn in the third case.
The court also extended the interim bail of PTI leaders, Farrukh Habib, Fawad Chaudhry, Hammad Azhar, Mian Mehmoodur Rashid and Ijaz Chaudhry till May 4.
Racecourse Police had registered the cases against the PTI chief and other party leaders and workers on the charges of attacking the police teams and burning official property and vehicles outside party leader’s Zaman Park residence. The cases had been registered under sections of Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.