Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday extended the “blanket bail” for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in all cases filed against him after May 9 until May 31.
Last week, the same judge had led a two-member bench that accepted Khan’s bail petition in the Al-Qadir Trust case for two weeks, a day after the Supreme Court termed his arrest in the case “unlawful.” He had also barred authorities from arresting the PTI chief until May 17 in any case registered against him after May 9—the day he was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on corruption charges.
During today’s hearing, the government’s counsel sought more time to provide information about the cases filed against the PTI chief. Granting this request, the court extended Khan’s bail and adjourned the hearing until May 31. The proceedings were boycotted by several reporters in protest against Justice Aurangzeb’s limiting of the number of journalists who could attend the hearing to five.
Separately, Justice Aurangzeb also declared the detention of PTI leaders Maleeka Bukhari and Ali Muhammad Khan as “null and void,” and ordered their immediate release. They had been detained under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order. A day earlier, he had likewise ordered the release of PTI’s Chaudhry Fawad Hussain.