ISLAMABAD: Different courts of Islamabad on Wednesday granted interim bail to Awami Muslim League chairman Sheikh Rashid while Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureishi has applied for bail in six cases registered in connection with May 25 long march.

District and Sessions Judge Kamran Basharat Mufti granted interim bail to Mr Rashid against Rs10,000 surety bonds till June 13. Additional District and Sessions Judge Arshad Mehmood Jasra also granted interim bail to Rashid in two different cases.

Former Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi sought bail in six cases registered in different police stations. Islamabad High Court (IHC) on the other hand granted protective bail to PTI leader Umar Amin Gandapur till June 13 in an FIR registered in Mianwali.

Gandapur contended before the court that he was nominated in the FIR for participating in the Long March. The court accepted his protective bail petition against Rs10,000 surety bonds.

Meanwhile, former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser and former minister Hammad Azhar also applied for protective bails in the FIRs registered by the Punjab police.

Both the leaders alleged that they have been politically victimised by the government. Qaiser also requested the court to seek report from the government regarding the cases registered against him in different police stations.

Talking to the media persons, Qureshi said that the government nominated him in six different cases.

He said that he was a law abiding citizen and believed in supremacy of law. He further said that the PTI did not believe in violent protest.

He claimed that the government had failed to provide relief to citizens. Qureshi said that Maryam Nawaz and Bilawal Bhutto staged a series of protests against inflation but their government had burdened the nation with massive increase in the prices of petroleum products, electricity and edible oil.

He said the government had planned to further increase Rs40 per litre in the petroleum prices under an agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

He expressed apprehensions that Pakistan might default if the government fail to overhaul the economy adding that the incumbent regime apparently lack the capability to put the economy back on track. Hence the only solution is early election, he added.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2022