Daily Times

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday granted bail to Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s two sisters – Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan.

ATC Judge Abual Hasnaat Zulqarnain conducted hearing of the case and after listening to the arguments from both sides, he approved post-arrest bail plea of Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan against surety bonds worth Rs20,000 each.

Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan who were arrested on October 4th from Red Zone of Islamabad were booked in an FIR at Kohsar Police Station for instigating a mob to attack policemen and state institutions.

They were sent on judicial remand at District Jail Jhelum on October 12th after spending eight days in custody of Islamabad police. Their bail hearing was fixed for October 19th on Saturday, but none of the two anti-terrorism court judges were present in their courtroom on Saturday. ATC-I Judge Abual Hasnaat Zulqarnain and ATC-II Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra were on leave. Admin Judge Raja Jawad Abbas presided over the hearing but told the legal team of Imran Khan’s sisters that he can’t decide the bail matter as the admin judge. Separately, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday demanded record of security threats from the interior ministry on not allowing lawyers to meet former prime minister Imran Khan despite court orders.

Justice Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan issued the written order of the hearing on the plea.

The IHC ordered the interior ministry to send an officer from the ministry with the record of threats on the basis of which the Punjab government banned the meetings in Adiala Jail. The court has also summoned the superintendent of Adiala Jail again in personal capacity.