Pak court cancels bail of ex-PM Imran Khan in election commission protest case

A Pakistani antiterrorism court here on Wednesday rejected the bail of former prime minister Imran Khan for failing to attend the court hearing of a case linked to protests outside the election commission a ruling which could lead to his arrestPakistan TehreekeInsaf PTI activists staged a protest after Khan was disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan ECP in the prohibited funding case last yearIn October last year Police launched a case under the antiterrorism laws and the former premier was on interim bail in the caseOn Wednesday Judge Raja Jawad Abbas of Anti Terrorism Court ATC in Islamabad remarked that Khan had been given enough time to appear before the court but he had failed to do so while his lawyer Babar Awan in his arguments urged the court to grant a onetime exemption from inperson appearance as Khan had not recovered from a gun attack of last yearAlso read Pakistan must set its house in order say experts on its economic crisisThe judge refused to accept the plea and ordered that Khan should appear by stating that the court cannot give any relief to a powerful person like Khan which is not given to a common personFinally the judge refused to extend the interim bail leaving the 70yearold cricketerturnedpolitician who survived an assassination attempt in November last year vulnerable to police arrestThe PTI leadership had asked party workers to stage protests across the country including near the ECP after Khan was disqualified over hiding details of party fundingSeparately the Islamabad High Court IHC barred a banking court from passing any direction on Khans bail plea in the Federal Investigation Agencys prohibited funding case against the PTILast year the ECP in the funding case against the PTI ruled that the party had received prohibited fundingLater the Federal Investigation Agency FIA registered a case against Khan and other party leaders as signatoriesbeneficiaries of the PTI account where the funds were parkedAt the previous hearing the banking court had rejected Khans request for a virtual hearing and asked him to appear in person on February 15During the hearing on Wednesday the court once again rejected the exemption request and instructed him to appear before the judge in person on WednesdayBut Khan had approached the IHC with a request for virtual proceedings which in its order instructed the PTI chief to submit fresh medical reports and stopped the banking court from taking further action in the case till February 22Khan has been facing a raft of cases and once he jokingly remarked that the only case he was not booked so far was the crime of dipping rusk in tea before eating themThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever