A Pakistani court has ordered former Prime Minister Imran Khan to be released on bail for 2 weeks, his lawyer said on Friday: after his arrest land fraud case sparked deadly protests and scuffles with the military.
Khan left the courthouse for his hometown of Lahore, where there is a high level of security.
He remained inside for hours after being released on bail, claiming security officials wouldn’t let him out.
The arrest, which the Supreme Court declared “invalid and illegal” the day before, fueled instability within the country of 220 million on the time Economic crisiswith record inflation, anemic growth and delayed IMF funding.
Khan welcomed the court’s order and said that the judiciary is Pakistan’s only protection against the “law of the jungle”.
“I actually have to say that I expected this from our judiciary since the only hope left – the one thin line between a banana republic and democracy – is the judiciary,” he told reporters on the courthouse.
In response to questions, Khan added that he didn’t consider the country’s security agencies were against him, but suggested that the position of head of the military was omnipotent.
![Security officers in combat gear](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/KHAN1.jpg?w=1024)
“One man on this country decides every little thing and it happens, it’s one man. It is not security agencies, it’s one man – the pinnacle of the military,” he said without naming him.
The military’s public relations department didn’t immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.
Khan’s critics once accused him of being outmaneuvered to power by a large army in 2018 – which either side have denied.
But he later quarreled with the generals, accusing them of planning his removal last yr.
Since then, he has been vocally criticizing the present army chief, General Asim Munir.
![Fire and smoke billow from a bus after it caught fire during clashes between police and supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/KHAN3.jpg?w=1024)
Khan, 70, is a cricket hero turned politician who was removed as Prime Minister in April 2022 in a parliamentary vote of no confidence and who is Pakistan’s hottest leader in keeping with polls.
Pakistan’s telecommunications regulator told Reuters it was restoring mobile broadband across the country.
The service was shut down on Tuesday evening by order of the house ministry for security reasons following violent protests that began following Khan’s arrest.
The regulator also said it was removing restrictions on access to social media platforms including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, which have also been disrupted since Tuesday.
The closure resulted in a lack of economic productivity and digital services, including digital payments.
The previous prime minister entered the court earlier Friday wearing dark glasses and a blue shawl kameez – a loose shirt and trousers popular in Pakistan – and a dark vest, surrounded by lawyers and security forces, television footage showed.
He was seen within the video waving on the cameras and making the victory sign along with his fingers as he entered the courthouse.
Meanwhile, his supporters clashed with police elsewhere within the capital, where a police van was set on fire, broadcaster Geo TV reported.
Following the announcement of the court order, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said security forces had been ordered to comply with it.
There have been violent protests in lots of cities in Pakistan after his arrest by against transplants agency on Tuesday.
Khan denies any offense.
His supporters stormed military establishments, set fire to the state broadcaster’s constructing, crashed buses, ransacked the house of a top army official, and attacked other assets, leading to almost 2,000 arrests and deployed army.
“The Islamabad High Court issued a two-week bail and also ordered (the anti-corruption body) to not arrest Imran Khan during this era,” one other of Khan’s lawyers, Faisal Chaudhry, told Reuters.
At the very least eight people have died within the riots which have deepened the country’s instability and dashed hopes of a key reopening International Monetary Fund rescue.
The military, which stays Pakistan’s strongest institution, has governed it directly for nearly half of its 75-year history through three coups, warns of further attacks on its assets and calls the violence “pre-planned.”
The military has historically intervened citing economic or political instability within the country.
Nonetheless, despite widespread fears of one other intervention amid months of unrest, the military said it supported the democratic process.
“The military’s senior leadership, the military chief of staff, has full confidence in democracy; there is no doubt of martial law,” the military’s chief spokesman, Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, told Geo TV.