LAHORE    -     The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore Saturday granted inter­im bail to Pakistan Teh­reek-e-Insaf (PTI) chair­man Imran Khan till April 4 in three cases reg­istered against him with the Race Course police.

Former prime minister Imran Khan approached the Anti-Terrorism Court seeking bail in three cas­es including the death of PTI activist Zille Shah. 

Earlier, the Lahore High Court had grant­ed protective bail to Im­ran Khan in these cases and directed his asso­ciates to approach the concerned court. After which Imran Khan ap­proached ATC on Satur­day to seek bail in these three cases. 

 The petition filed by Imran Khan in ATC stated that he wanted to join investigation process in three cases regis­tered against him but there’s a possibility of him being ar­rested by the police. There­fore court is requested to grant him interim bail in the three cases and stop the po­lice from arresting him. Af­ter hearing the arguments, the court approved the bail till April 4 in three cases of Chairman PTI, Imran Khan with directions to submit bail bonds of Rs 100,000 in each of the case. The An­ti-Terrorism Court ordered former Prime Minister Im­ran Khan to appear before the court on every hearing. The court directed the inves­tigation officers to produce record on the next hearing, while the court staff was as­signed to get the signature of Chairman PTI Imran Khan. Imran Khan’s lawyer plead­ed with the court that many cases are being filed against the former prime minister and it would be better if he is allowed to appear through video link. Earlier, the an­ti-terrorism court Judge Ijaz Ahmad directed Im­ran Khan’s lawyer to come to the court with a few peo­ple in the future. The judge maintained that he will not hear the cases in the pres­ence of so many people in future. Imran Khan’s lawyer assured the court to comply with the court’s direction. Imran Khan’s bulletproof ve­hicle was allowed to enter the court premises after his request was approved. The petition to grant access to Imran’s vehicle said that Im­ran Khan had been attacked before so he should be al­lowed to enter with the vehi­cle. While talking to report­ers about the hindrances being set up to halt people from reaching Minar-e-Paki­stan jalsa, Imran Khan said people will break barriers to fully participate in the jalsa. Imran vowed to announce his future plan action during the jalsa. PTI Chairman Im­ran Khan said that by block­ing the roads the govern­ment has turned Lahore and entire country into Occu­pied Kashmir.