ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday granted 14-day anticipatory bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in the murder case of a senior Supreme Court lawyer.
Advocate Sher was shot dead by three motorcycle-borne assailants while he was on his way to the Balochistan High Court (BHC) on Tuesday.
“According to eyewitnesses, he was traveling in his relative’s car,” the official said. Shar was immediately rushed to Quetta Civil Hospital but succumbed to his injuries on the way. He was shot 16 times.
The former prime minister and others were booked in the case of Abdul Razzaq Shar, who was shot dead by armed motorcyclists on Airport Road in Quetta, Balochistan on Wednesday.
In Quetta, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered under the murder, Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and other provisions of the complaint of Advocate Siraj Ahmed, son of the slain lawyer.
The ousted prime minister was set to appeal for bail in several other courts on a growing list of charges against him to avoid his arrest.
He first appeared in the High Court where a two-member bench headed by the Chief Justice of the IHC heard the petition filed in the lawyer’s murder case.
The court also directed the PTI chief to appear before the court after two weeks.
Khan ‘directly responsible’ for lawyer’s murder: Tarar
A day earlier, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) Attaullah Tarar had held the PTI chairman “directly responsible” for the killing, claiming that the target killing was related to the treason case against Imran. was, which Shaar pleaded.
A division bench of the BHC, comprising Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Muhammad Amir Nawaz Rana, heard the petition on May 29, in which the former prime minister was requested to be prosecuted under Article 6 of the Constitution.
Lawyer Shar pleaded that the ousted Prime Minister violated the Constitution by advising the President to dissolve the National Assembly, so he should be prosecuted under Article 6.
After the initial hearing, the BHC bench issued notices to Additional Attorney General Rauf Atta and Deputy Attorney General Muhammad Naeem Kasi and directed them to submit their reply on the next hearing on June 7.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Tuesday, SAPM alleged that Khan “had the lawyer killed to save himself from a treason case”.
Describing his killing as a legal murder, Tarar lamented that Advocate Sher was shot dead in broad daylight and promised a thorough investigation into the murder. The leader of Muslim League-N said that Imran will be named in this murder case.
“PTI has become a militant and terrorist organization, Imran will not be able to save himself in this case,” he asserted. .
