By Staff Reporter
LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court in Lahore on Wednesday granted bail to Shahrez Khan, the nephew of former prime minister Imran Khan, in a case tied to the attack on a military official’s residence during violent riots in May 2023 that followed the opposition leader’s arrest.
The decision by Judge Manzer Ali Gill came after he reserved the verdict earlier in the day on Shahrez Khan’s bail petition. The court ordered his release upon payment of a surety bond of Rs100,000.
Shahrez Khan, an athlete and the son of Khan’s sister Aleema Khan, was arrested by Lahore police from his mother’s residence on Aug. 21. His brother, Shershah Khan, was detained the following day on similar allegations. Shahrez Khan was initially sent on physical remand and later to jail. On Aug. 30, the Lahore anti-terrorism court placed him on a 14-day judicial remand.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Advocate Rana Mudassar argued that his client had been accused of inciting party workers but that the investigation, which included geo-fencing and multiple angles of inquiry, turned up no evidence against him.
“Everything is clear in the challan, it mentions named and unnamed suspects but Shahrez is not mentioned at all, no investigator gave any statement. He was arrested after 28 months and his mother — the PTI founder’s sister — is raising her voice for his release. This arrest was made to suppress their voice,” Mudassar said.
The lawyer added that Shahrez Khan was in Chitral during the riots, with several people submitting affidavits to support that claim. He noted that the athlete was also scheduled to travel abroad for a sporting event.
Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan have voiced concerns over the arrests, with Amnesty describing them as a “political witch-hunt.”
Shahrez Khan’s wife has said her husband was in Chitral with her family on May 9, 2023, and shared purported pictures from the trip. The PTI, Imran Khan’s party, has challenged a video circulating of Shahrez Khan, asserting that it was from a party public meeting in Kahna on Sept. 21, 2024, rather than from the 2023 riots.
Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry has defended the arrests, saying they could not be dismissed as “fake, fabricated [or] politically motivated.”
The case stems from the May 9, 2023, riots, when supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party erupted in protests across the country after his arrest on corruption charges. Demonstrators vandalized military installations and state-owned buildings, including an attack on the Lahore corps commander’s residence, known as Jinnah House.
In the aftermath, Pakistani authorities launched a broad crackdown on the PTI, arresting thousands of protesters and top party leaders. In recent months, scores of PTI figures have been convicted in riot-related cases and disqualified from their parliamentary positions. Imran Khan himself remains in custody on multiple charges, and his party has faced ongoing legal and political pressure amid allegations of suppression by the government.
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