Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan granted bail, leaves court
A Pakistani court ordered former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s release on bail for two weeks, his lawyer said on Friday, after his arrest in a land fraud case ignited deadly protests and a tussle with the military, Azernews reports citing The News York Post.
Khan departed the court premises, headed towards his hometown Lahore, amidst high security.
He had remained inside for hours after being granted bail, saying he was not being allowed to leave by security officials.
The arrest, which the Supreme Court ruled “invalid and unlawful” a day earlier, has fueled instability in the nation of 220 million at a time of economic crisis, with record inflation, anaemic growth and delayed IMF funding.
Khan welcomed the court’s order and said the judiciary was Pakistan’s only protection against the “law of the jungle”.
“I must say I expected this from our judiciary, because the only hope now left — the only thin line between a banana republic and a democracy is the judiciary,” he told journalists inside the court premises.
Khan added, in answer to questions, that he did not believe the country’s security agencies were against him, but he suggested that the position of army chief was all-powerful.
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