Islamabad: Former Pakistan prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party (PTI) chief Imran Khan was on Monday granted protective bail till August 25 by Islamabad High Court.


Islamabad High Court directed Imran Khan to refer to the Anti-Terror Court (ATC) before August 25.


This comes after the ousted prime minister moved the Islamabad HC on Monday seeking pre-arrest bail. The plea came the day after he was booked under the Anti-Terrorism Act for threatening police, judiciary, and other state institutions at his Islamabad rally on Saturday.


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The petition filed by his lawyers Babar Awan and Faisal Chaudhry stated that Imran Khan was a “target of the ruling PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) for his fearless criticism, and extremely bold and blunt stance against corruption and corrupt politicians”, the Dawn newspaper reported.


“And to achieve this malicious agenda, acting in a most unfortunate and clumsy manner, a false and frivolous complaint has been registered against him by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police at the behest of the incumbent government,” it added.


The plea also claimed that the Shehbaz Sharif-led government had decided to “cross all limits” to arrest Imran “under false accusations” and was “hell-bent to sort out the petitioner and his party at all costs”.


The case against Khan was registered at the Margalla Police Station of Islamabad.


The FIR reads that Khan in his speech had "terrorised and threatened top police officials and a respected female additional sessions judge" with the aim to stop them from performing their functions and abstain them from pursuing any action against any individual related to his PTI.


Khan’s speech had spread fear and uncertainty among the police, judges, and the nation, the FIR stated.


In his address, Imran Khan had threatened to file cases against top police officials, a woman magistrate, the Election Commission of Pakistan and political opponents over the treatment meted out to his aide Shahbaz Gill, who was arrested last week on charges of sedition.


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(With Agency Inputs)