Islamabad High Court discards terror charges against Imran

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday discarded the terrorism charges against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan after he was booked under ATA for threatening a sessions court judge and top cops during a public gathering in the federal capital.

A two-member IHC bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah announced the verdict. The court ordered that proceedings on the other sections in the case would continue in the relevant forum, reports DAWN.

The PTI chief had made the controversial remarks during a party power show in the capital on August 20 and was subsequently booked for "terrorism" under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Another case was registered against the former premier for violating Section 144. However, new sections were later added to the FIR, against which the PTI chief had approached the court.

The section added to the FIR later were Section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 186 (imprisonment for three months), and 188 (disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Controversial comments

At the Islamabad rally on 20 August, Imran had warned the judiciary against its "biased" attitude towards his party, saying that it should brace itself for the consequences.

The former prime minister had also warned additional district and sessions judge Zeba Chaudhry, who had approved the two-day physical remand of his aide Shahbaz Gill's on the request of the capital police in a sedition case, that she, too, would face dire consequences.

Moreover, the PTI chief had threatened to file cases against Islamabad's inspector general of police and deputy inspector general of police, saying, "We won't spare you."