A court in Pakistan extended Wednesday the anticipatory bail of Rehman Malik, presently Interior Minister, in connection with an 11-year-old case in which he was accused of going abroad illegally.
The Peshawar court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Fakhar Zaman, which had granted pre-arrest bail to Malik January 25, approved his "bail before arrest" application. He personally appeared before the court.
It was not known when the anticipatory bail was extended by the court in Wednesday's hearing, as Malik earlier requested the court not to make public the next date of the hearing due to security concerns.
The case was registered by the Passport Cell of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) November 6, 1998, after Malik left Pakistan illegally via Torkham, a border-crossing point into
Afghanistan, and in the process committed an offense under provisions of the passport laws of the Islamic country.
The prosecution alleged that his name was on the "Exit Control List" and that he had left the country illegally through unauthorized means and routes.
However, Malik's counsel argued that at that time just a register was maintained at Torkham and no other documents were required. He added that even otherwise, the FIA had no jurisdiction for filing a case in a matter pertaining to FATA.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com