Pakistan polls: Former PM Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi have got bail in a number of cases linked to the May 9 riots, a report said on Saturday.
A court in Rawalpindi on Saturday granted bail to former premier and PTI founder Imran Khan in 12 cases related to attacks on military installations in May 2023, while PTI stalwart and former foreign minister was granted bail in 13 cases, Express Tribune reported.
The bail applications were heard by ATC Judge Malik Ejaz Asif. The court said there was no justification to keep the PTI founder under arrest and all accused in May 9 cases are on bail.
Last month, Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were sentenced to 10 years each in prison in the cipher case. Khan, who was ousted by his opponents as PM in 2022, is already serving a three-year jail term after being convicted of corruption.
The cipher case, which is better known as the alleged leaking of secret diplomatic correspondence, revolves on the transmission of confidential messages from Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington to Islamabad during Imran Khan’s tenure as prime minister. This case is connected to an incident that took place in March 2022, just a month before Khan was removed from power through a parliamentary vote of no confidence. During a rally, Khan made a public appearance and brandished a document, claiming it provided evidence of a foreign conspiracy against him.
Khan was ousted through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. More than 150 cases have been registered against him since his ouster from power.