KP CM secures transit bail from PHC

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Thursday secured a transit bail from the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the first information reports (FIRs) lodged against him in Islamabad after the “Azadi March” called by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI Chairman Imran Khan on May 25.

A single bench of the PHC Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan granted the protective bail to the chief minister till July 2 against two personal sureties of Rs 50, 000 each, with the directives to him to approach the relevant courts.

Mahmood Khan had filed the bail application through his lawyer, Naumanul Haq Kakakhel. But his lawyer could not appear in the court due to the strike by the community against the recent torture, arrest and registration of a case against senior lawyer Ghufran Shah allegedly at the behest of a civil servant, Additional Assistant Commissioner Aftab Ahmad.

This compelled the chief minister to appear in the court in person to obtain the bail to avoid arrest as a result of the FIRs registered against him during the “Azadi March” toward the federal capital.

In the transit bail application filed for the chief minister, his lawyer stated that his client was an active member of the PTI and his party had arranged a march in Islamabad, which, he believed, was peaceful.

The lawyer said Mahmood Khan had addressed public meetings and lawyers’ conventions as a political leader, insisting that all these activities were peaceful.

He said that despite all this, the Tarnol Police registered FIRs against the KP chief minister, claiming that action was taken as political revenge as the Supreme Court of Pakistan had already allowed the PTI to hold a peaceful protest.

The lawyer feared Mahmood Khan may be arrested while heading to Islamabad, and hence requested a transit bail for him so that he could approach the relevant courts for that.