ISLAMABAD (Daily Point) — The Supreme Court has granted bail to Imran Khan, the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case.
Despite the court’s decision, Imran Khan remains incarcerated as there are two other pending cases against him and Qureshi.
The bail, approved on Friday, requires both Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi to furnish a surety bond of Rs1 million each in connection with the cipher case. Nevertheless, the legal proceedings in the other two cases are far from reaching a conclusion. These cases involve allegations related to Tosha Khana gifts and the transfer of £190 million pounds to Pakistan. Both cases were filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which “arrested” Imran Khan on November 13, 2023.
Although Imran Khan was already in jail at the time of the symbolic “arrest” on November 13, the situation has gained material significance after the grant of bail in other cases. Consequently, Imran Khan remains unable to be released from prison.
In a setback for Imran Khan’s electoral aspirations, the Islamabad High Court rejected a petition on Thursday to suspend the Toshakhana verdict. The court ruled that the law does not permit alterations to a previously issued decision regarding the suspension of a sentence. It emphasized that the PTI had not initially requested a suspension of the verdict in the original petition. Furthermore, the court referred to the Supreme Court’s stance that while sentences can be suspended, verdicts cannot.
On August 5, an accountability court had found Imran Khan guilty of corrupt practices in the Toshakhana case, which centered around the misappropriation of Toshakhana gifts, including a watch inscribed with an image of the Holy Kaaba.
