Islamabad High Court grants Imran Khan protective bail

Islamabad: Former Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was granted protective bail by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday. Hours after Khan's warning that there would be countrywide unrest, the court granted him bail over the Al-Qadir Trust case, IANS reported.

During the course of proceedings, Khan had warned of unrest across the country in case of his arrest.

In the first session of the hearing, a two-member special division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) left the courtroom, adjourning the hearing on Khan's bail plea immediately after slogans were chanted in favour of the former premier, Geo News reported.

The IHC took up the former prime minister's bail plea a day after Supreme Court termed the former prime minister's arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case "unlawful".

In response to a question that had he expected to be arrested, Khan replied: "I was 100 per cent certain that I would be arrested."

Following this, the courtroom erupted into slogans in favour of the PTI chief. The courtroom staff tried to stop the chanting; however, they failed to do so. At this, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb said that this was "unacceptable".

Subsequently, the hearing was briefly adjourned for a break for Friday prayers.

Khan arrived in a high-security convoy at IHC, where hundreds of police and paramilitary troops have been deployed, Geo News reported.

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