The Islamabad High Court on Friday granted bail to former Pakistan Prime Minister and president of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party Imran Khan in Al-Qadir Trust case.
The Bench of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz granted two-week bail to the national opposition leader of Pakistan, who was arrested on May 1 on corruption charges from the premises of the same court.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan had declared Khan’s arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as invalid and unlawful on May 11 and had instructed the authorities to present the 70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician to the Islamabad High Court on Friday.
The Bench of Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah had said on Thursday that execution of the above mentioned warrant has infringed the petitioner’s right of access to justice and the sanctity and safety of the Court.
It observed that Imran had already surrendered to the Court for judicial relief against the action, which was taken by NAB in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
The Court said this while hearing a petition filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) challenging the arrest.
The PTI chief was arrested on May 1 by Pakistani Rangers from outside the Islamabad High Court in connection with the corruption charges in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
As per available information, the former prime minister, along with his wife Bushra Bibi and other PTI leaders, are facing an NAB inquiry for allegedly accepting Rs five billion and hundreds of kanals (of land) from Bahria Town (an Islamabad-based real estate company) in exchange for protecting the firm in a money laundering case.
It has also been alleged that the accused got land for the purpose of establishing a university through a non-profit organisation called the Al-Qadir Trust.
The organisation had only two trustees, Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi. It was alleged that agreement between the company and the PTI government resulted in a loss of 190 million pounds to the national treasury.
The Supreme Court said that the fundamental rights of Khan under Articles 4, 9, 10-A and 14 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan have been infringed.
Article 4 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan state, “no action detrimental to the life, liberty, body, reputation or property of any person shall be taken except in accordance with law”.
As per Article 9, “No person shall be deprived of life or liberty in accordance with law.”
It is similar to Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
Article 10-A provides the right to free trial and Article 14 states that “the dignity of man and, subject to law, the privacy of home, shall be inviolable. (2) No person shall be subjected to torture for the purpose of extracting evidence”.