Imran Khan finally leaves Islamabad High Court premises after being granted bail

After a protracted standoff with authorities, Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Imran Khan left the premises of the Islamabad High Court on Friday night despite being granted bail in a number of cases.

Three different benches of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted relief to the 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief.

However, despite the bail being granted, Khan remained within the premises as he and his legal team were locked in apparent negotiations with authorities over his exit from the court.

“Imran Khan has finally left the Islamabad High Court. He remained inside the premises for hours after getting bail in key cases and the court also barred his arrest,” a senior official was quoted as saying by the Dawn news website.

He said the former prime minister left in the Islamabad deputy inspector general’s (security) vehicle along with state security.

After hearing the arguments from the lawyers, the court gave Khan protective bail until May 17 in all cases filed after his arrest on Tuesday when he was present in the court.

Khan, in his petition, had asked the court that he was not aware of the violence but cases had been registered. While granting bail, the judge remarked that he should condemn all the incidents of violence in the wake of his arrest.

The bench also ordered the authorities to provide foolproof security to Khan.

Khan issued a video message on his extended stay at the Islamabad High Court, saying that he was being kept there despite the court granting him bail.

“They’ve kidnapped me and forcefully kept me here. I want to tell the whole nation that it is their bad intention, they want to do something again [and] the whole nation should ready itself” to protest, Imran said.

Earlier, an IHC bench also ruled that Khan should not be arrested in any case until Monday, a kind of blanket protection in all cases. He was asked to appear before the Lahore High Court on Monday.

Khan’s lawyer Shoaib Shaheen told the media that the former premier had been given “blanket bail” in all cases and he cannot be arrested until Monday.