IHC grants Asad Umar protective bail till Thursday

ISLAMABAD: A division bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday granted protective bail to PTI leader Asad Umar till Thursday and instructed him to approach the relevant court in Lahore. The bench — comprising Justice Mohsin Akhter Kayani and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri — heard the bail petition of Asad Umar.

The petitioner’s lawyer adopted the stance that his client was a responsible citizen and prayed to the court to grant him a two-week protective bail, as he also had to appear before courts in other cases.

The lawyer said an FIR had been registered against Asad Umar with the Gulberg Police Station, Lahore. The court accepted the request and granted bail to Asad against a surety bond of Rs25,000. The court also instructed the petitioner to approach the court concerned for relief till Thursday.

Meanwhile, Anti-Terrorism Court judge Raja Jawad Abbas reserved his judgment on the interim bail petition of Asad Umar in a case pertaining to rioting and vandalizing at the judicial complex.

Asad’s counsel adopted the stance that his client was at the IHC when the incident took place. He was not seen in the CCTV camera footage of the Judicial Complex of the date, he added. Prosecutor Adnan Ali said the accused not only brought rioters to the Judicial Complex but also instigated them to vandalize the public property.

The court asked the prosecutor to tell any incident till 2023 where a terrorist without weapons resorted to terrorism. “It’s the first case where a person accused of terrorism was unarmed,” he added. The prosecutor said a campaign had been launched to weaken the judiciary. After hearing arguments, the court reserved its judgment and adjourned the hearing till Tuesday (today).