ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday announced that the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan by NAB in a corruption case is legal.
The single bench comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Aamer Farooq announced the verdict which he had earlier reserved. According to the details, Justice Aamer announced the reserved verdict declaring the arrest legal but he also issued contempt court notices to Interior Secretary and Inspector General (IG) Islamabad Police.
The IHC bench also issued directions to the Registrar to get lodge an FIR of the incident and submit a report in this regard till May 16.
Earlier in the day, the he took notice of Imran’s arrest and directed the Islamabad police chief, the Secretary ministry of interior and the additional attorney general to appear before the court within 15 minutes. He directed the AAG to appear before the court and directed him to immediately find out who was behind the arrest.
The Advocate General (AG) Islamabad requested that the court extend the time of 15 minutes to half an hour; however, the request was rejected and he was ordered to appear in 15 minutes. Justice Aamer said that he was showing “restraint” and warned that he would “summon” the prime minister if the Islamabad police chief did not appear before the court. He added that come to court and tell us why Imran has been arrested and in which case.
When the hearing resumed later, the Islamabad IG appeared before the court alongside the additional attorney general and the interior secretary. Expressing his anger at their delay, he said that the court had directed them to appear in court within 15 minutes but you came after 45 minutes. The Islamabad IG replied that he had found out about Imran’s arrest from the media. He told that he has been arrested in a case related to corrupt practices and submitted the PTI chief’s arrest warrant before the bench.
Justice Farooq observed that as far as he knew and from what the court staff said, Imran was not arrested by the NAB. He added, “I will issue an appropriate order if the arrest was in violation of the law.”
Then, Barrister Gohar Khan who was present at the time of the arrest, came to the rostrum and said that he was with Imran when he was taken away by Rangers officials. He added that they were trying to arrest the PTI chief before he even entered the biometric room and the Rangers personnel broke down the windows and used pepper spray.
He continued that they hit Imran Khan with a rod and then went on to say that he was ready to record his statement with the court in this regard. He maintained, “I have seen all this from my own eyes.” He said, “They also struck his injured leg and they have violated judicial independence and fundamental rights.”