PTI leader and lawyer Babar Awan on Wednesday said that former prime minister Imran Khan would approach an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in person tomorrow (Aug 25) for bail in the terrorism case registered against him by the government.

Last week, a first investigation report (FIR) was registered against the PTI chairman at the Margalla police station under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (punishment for acts of terrorism) regarding his comments at the party’s Islamabad rally on Aug 20.

Subsequently, on Monday, Imran approached the Islamabad High Court where a two-member bench comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Babar Sattar, granted him protective bail till Aug 25.

In a video message shared on PTI’s Twitter, Awan said that Imran had chaired a meeting of the party’s legal committee earlier today in which it was decided that an application seeking the ex-prime minister’s bail would be filed in an ATC in the capital.

“Imran Khan will go there himself,” the lawyer clarified, claiming that both the local and international media had been asking about the matter.

“This fake case […] in which there was neither a blast nor a Kalashnikov used […] and the police built up charges of terrorism, destroying Pakistan’s narrative developed over the last 20 years against terrorism.”

Awan further said that the international media, human rights activists, and even the United Nations had expressed concern over the matter.

“God willing, we will all go together tomorrow,” he added.

Previously, in an interview with Geo TV, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had said that the government would try and get Imran’s bail rejected.

“We will ensure that he is arrested from the court,” he had said. “And I believe that the court will conduct a thorough inquiry against him for threatening the sessions court judge.”

The case

The FIR against Imran was registered at Islamabad’s Margalla police station at 10pm on Saturday at the complaint of magistrate Ali Javed.

The FIR said that at the PTI’s rally at F-9 park a day ago, Imran had “terrorised and threatened top police officials and a respected female additional sessions judge” in his address.

The FIR reproduced the PTI chairman’s comments where he spoke about the female judge and the Islamabad police officials.

At the gathering on Aug 20, Imran had threatened to file cases against Islamabad’s inspector general of police and deputy inspector general of police and declared: “We won’t spare you.”

He then warned the judiciary against its “biased” attitude towards his party, saying that it should brace itself for the consequences. He also warned additional district and sessions judge Zeba Chaudhry, who had approved the two-day physical remand of PTI leader Shahbaz Gill at the request of the capital police, that she would also face dire consequences.

The FIR argued that Imran’s speech was meant to “terrorise” top police officials and the judiciary so they could not perform their functions and abstain from pursuing any action against any PTI-related individual if required to do so.

The magistrate argued that Imran’s speech had spread fear and uncertainty among the police, judges and the nation. “Terrorism has been spread the country’s peace has been harmed,” he added.

The FIR requested that legal action be pursued against Imran and an “exemplary punishment” be meted out.