Terrorism case: Imran Khan fails to appear before JIT despite being summoned thrice

• Khan was summoned by the JIT on September 9 and 10 as well but he did not show up.
• A case was lodged against Khan for allegedly threatening a lower court judge, Zeba Chaudhry.
• The PTI leader says what he said in the speech about judge cannot be categorised as terrorism.

PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan failed to appear before the joint investigation team (JIT) of the police in relation to a terror case filed against him despite being summoned for the third time.

Following the orders of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), the head of the JIT issued a summons to Khan for the third time and asked him to report to the Margalla Police Station, Islamabad, today at 6pm. Khan, however, did not show up.

Read more: Islamabad Police summon Imran Khan again to join probe in terror case

A case was lodged against Khan for allegedly threatening a lower court judge, Zeba Chaudhry. Last week, the IHC asked the former prime minister to ensure that he cooperates with the police in the case's investigation.

According to the notice issued to Khan, he must appear before the JIT and answer questions related to the charges levelled against him. The notice further stated that despite the orders of the IHC, Khan neither appeared before the JIT nor presented his position regarding the case.

The JIT — in the recent notice — mentioned that Khan was summoned on September 9 and 10 for the investigation of the case as well and the JIT waited for his arrival at the designated time, but he never showed up.

Although Khan did not appear before the JIT, he submitted a reply on Friday (September 9) through his lawyer stating that the threats issued to a female judge in a rally do not fall under “terrorism” and the case should be dismissed as he is “innocent”.

“I am the chairman of Tehreek-e-Insaf, I have been the prime minister of Pakistan, the government tortured [my aide] Shahbaz Gill due to political opposition, the report filed in the Islamabad High Court proved the torture of Shahbaz Gill,” Khan told the JIT in the letter.

The PTI leader added that what he said in the speech cannot be categorised as terrorism, adding that he neither committed any illegal acts nor harmed anyone.

The case and bails

A first information report (FIR) was registered against the former prime minister on August 21 under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) for threatening the additional sessions judge and senior police officers of the Islamabad Police at a rally in the federal capital’s F-9 Park.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of magistrate Ali Javed at Islamabad's Margalla Police Station under Section 7 of ATA.

Read more: ATC extends Imran Khan's interim bail in terror case till Sept 12

Following this, Khan managed to secure transit bail till August 25 from the IHC but was asked to approach the ATC as it was the relevant forum. Then, the trial court extended the interim bail till September 12 in the terrorism case.