LAHORE , May 15, 2023: A two-member bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday granted till May 23 protective bail to Bushra Bibi, wife of PTI chief Imran Khan, in Al-Qadir Trust case.
Former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi appeared in the Lahore High Court for protective bail. A two-member bench of the Lahore High Court led by Justice Shehbaz Rizvi conducted hearing of the case. The court barred the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting Bushra Bibi till May 23 in Al-Qadir Trust case.
Bushra Bibi marked her attendance after reaching the court.
An application had been filed by Bushra Bibi through her counsel Khawaja Haris, Intizar Panjutha and Ali Ijaz Buttur in the Al-Qadir Trust case. The federal government, the NAB chief and others had been made parties in the petition.
The petition stated that the NAB had started investigation in the Al-Qadir Trust case and it was illegal. There was a fear that NAB might arrest them, it said.
In the application, the court has been informed that the petitioner has to approach the accountability court of Islamabad. Therefore, the court should approve the protective bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court (LHC) was also likely to take up a plea moved by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan over the cases registered against him on May 9 and onwards.
The former prime minister was arrested in Al-Qadir Trust case on May 9. The PTI chief, a day after being released on bail from Islamabad High Court, had filed a petition in the Lahore High Court on Saturday fearing re-arrest in the new cases.
In the plea, Khan had sought details of the cases registered against him in the light of countrywide protests that broke out following his arrest, as well as immunity against being detained.
He stated in the plea that he was being politically victimized and there was a risk of arrest as police had nominated him in several cases. The Punjab inspector general and advocate general have been made respondents in the case by the PTI chairman.
Mr Khan’s dramatic arrest came last week when he was getting his biometrics done at the Islamabad High Court (IHC). Heavy Rangers force took the former cricket star into custody, acting on National Accountability Bureau (NAB) orders, and whisked him away in a black Rivo.
Violence erupted after the event which proved to be a major turn in the country’s restive politics as thousands of supporters and PTI workers took to streets against arrest of their leader.
The countrywide demonstrations involved workers’ clashes with police, vandalism and attack on state property and vital installations including General Headquarters and Lahore Corps Commander House.