Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has been granted bail by the supreme court in a case related to a lawyer’s murder, while the nation’s election oversight body demanded his arrest in a separate contempt case in which he failed to appear for questioning.
The developments are the latest in unprecedented legal problems surrounding the former premier, now the country’s top opposition leader.
Since his removal from power in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April last year, Mr Khan has been slapped with more than 150 legal cases, including several on charges of corruption, “terrorism” and inciting people to violence over deadly protests in May when his followers attacked government and military property across the country.
Last week the government of his successor, prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, said it would bring charges against Mr Khan for “exposing an official secret document” in an incident last year when he waved a confidential diplomatic letter at a rally, describing it as “proof” that he was threatened and claiming his removal was a conspiracy.
On Monday the election oversight body ordered police to arrest Mr Khan after he repeatedly failed to show up before its tribunal to face contempt charges over his public outbursts against election commission officials.
Mr Khan had said the officials were nothing but “personal servants” to Mr Sharif.
Mr Khan’s legal team said he would appear before the tribunal on Tuesday. It was unclear whether he would submit a formal apology, which would be sufficient to make the case go away, or whether he would contest the contempt charges.
Also on Tuesday, Mr Khan is to appear before the country’s Federal Investigation Agency to face charges of exposing secret documents, related to the letter-waving incident.
The document, dubbed Cipher, has not been made public but was apparently a diplomatic correspondence between a Pakistani ambassador to Washington and the ministry of foreign affairs in Islamabad.
In his Monday appearance before the supreme court, Mr Khan was granted brail – automatically meaning protection from arrest under Pakistani law – over the June killing of lawyer Abdul Razzaq in Quetta by unidentified gunmen.
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The family of Mr Razzaq, who was supposed to appear as a petitioner and lawyer in yet another treason case against Mr Khan, has accused the former prime minister of conspiring to kill him, a charge Mr Khan denies.
Despite his removal from power, Mr Khan, a cricket star turned Islamist politician, has a huge grassroots following in Pakistan.
After his arrest in May, days of rioting by his followers subsided only after he was released on an order from the supreme court. – AP