Pakistan’s Supreme Court annulled the arrest of former Prime Minister and Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, on Thursday.
The court deemed the arrest, which occurred in the Al-Qadir Trust case, as illegal and ordered the immediate release of Khan.
The highest court in the land further advised Khan to revisit the Islamabad High Court. During the proceedings, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial reportedly told Khan to comply with the decision of the Islamabad High Court, which is slated to resume hearing the case the next day.
In his court appearance, Khan claimed he was “abducted” from the Islamabad High Court and physically assaulted. He alleged that he was beaten and that such cruel treatment wasn’t even meted out to criminals.
Read: PTI Denies Inciting Violence Following Imran Khan’s Arrest
The court directed the authorities to present Khan, arguing against his arrest on the premises of the Islamabad High Court. The court also stated that the arrest could establish a wrong precedent, with Justice Minallah questioning why the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) seemed to have taken the law into its own hands.
Khan’s lawyer, Hamid Khan, informed the court that Khan had appeared before the Islamabad High Court to seek bail in the NAB case when he was arrested by Rangers personnel who broke down doors and windows.
In the wake of the arrest, the PTI, under the leadership of Fawad Chaudhry, filed a petition in the Supreme Court, requesting the court to set aside the Islamabad High Court order passed in response to the arrest.
