Islamabad court granted bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday in a case registered against him for alleged attacks on sensitive state installations on May 9.
Key military and government facilities were vandalized after the PTI leader was detained on corruption-related allegations last month. Following this, the PTI leadership was subject to a purge, which led to Qureshi’s detention under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Act (3MPO).
Qureshi was released from Adiala Jail last week after spending around a month in detention.
The PTI leader’s bail request in a related case was heard today by Additional Sessions Judge Syed Haroon Ahmed.
Ali Bukhari, Qureshi’s attorney, asked the district and sessions court to release him on bond. On condition of a Rs. 10,000 bond, the judge granted his motion, and he was given bail until July 4.
Qureshi informed the media during the hearing that the case was “baseless”. He claimed, “I was not even in Islamabad on May 9 when two complaints were filed against me about that day. I was in Karachi.”
Qureshi expressed grave concerns about the federal government’s budget during a post-hearing interview with journalists outside the district and sessions court.
He said, “Even the [government’s] experts are not on the same page about it. There is a lot of debate surrounding the budget.”
He declared, “The presented budget contravenes the requirements set forth by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)”. “The nation is on the verge of default.”
