On Friday, PTI Chairman Imran Khan appeared in the Lahore High Court seeking protective bail in a case related to allegations made against top officers of state institutions and inciting mutiny. The case came about after a first information report (FIR) was filed against Imran on April 6 by a magistrate at the Ramna police station in Lahore for "spreading hatred between institutions and the public" and "trying to cause unforgivable damage to the institutions and their top officers."
Imran's counsel, Faisal Chaudhry, objected to the jurisdiction of the case during a previous hearing at the Islamabad High Court on April 10. However, the hearing was adjourned indefinitely after Justice Aamer Farooq summoned the magistrate to submit a response for the next hearing.
At the hearing held on Friday, Justice Ali Baqar Najafi presided over the matter at the LHC, with Barrister Salman Safdar representing Imran as his counsel. Imran's counsel requested the court to grant him protective bail as he was scheduled to go to Islamabad on April 18. The court granted the bail until April 26.
During a video released by PTI's official account, Imran denied allegations made against him and stated that "if [an institution] is doing something wrong and you do not criticize it, you are damaging the society."
Furthermore, during the hearing, Imran's counsel revealed that another FIR had been registered against him. The FIR was filed under sections 138 (abetment of act of insubordination by soldier, sailor or airman), 500 (punishment for defamation), and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). It alleged that in a speech made by Imran on March 19 in Lahore's Zaman Park that was aired on BOL News, he made several allegations against a senior officer of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and conducted a "character assassination."
The FIR also referred to Imran's speeches made on November 4 and 11, 2022, and October 28 and 29, 2022, in which he allegedly used inappropriate words for the ISI and army officials. The complainant claimed that Imran had used offensive language, threatened the families of senior officers, and provoked extremists, putting the lives of a senior officer's family under constant threat.
The FIR further alleged that Imran tried to make soldiers revolt against their oath and officers through a conspiracy, which foreign agencies took advantage of, and attacked Imran while trying to create a rift between the public and the army.
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