PTI Chairman Imran Khan has said that the government and the establishment were one and the same and that establishment was running the government.

He was speaking to reporters at the accountability court in Islamabad where he was set to appear before Judge Mohammad Bashir in the Al Qadir Trust case.

Khan said he did not have any contact with President Arif Alvi but it was not true that he was angry with the president, a PTI member, over the latter’s decision to sign the Supreme Court Review of Judgment and Orders Bill 2023 – a new law which has enabled Khan’s rival Nawaz Sharif to seek a review of his disqualification judgment.

Imran Khan said the review bill would have become law even if President Alvi had refused to sign it.

Imran Khan said holding general elections in the country was the only way forward.

The PTI chairman arrived at the court amid tight security. His guards were holding bulletproof shields as he left his vehicle to enter the courtroom.

Bushra Bibi appears before court

Earlier, Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi appeared before Judge Mohammad Bashir to seek bail in the Al Qadir Trust case. However, her bail petition was termed ineffective after the investigating officer (IO) told the court that he was not seeking Bushra Bibi’s arrest.

She is a co-accused in the £190 million(or Rs60 billion) case.

Imran Khan will also appear in the Islamabad High Court to secure bail in multiple cases. He left Lahore for Islamabad early morning.

Other cases

He will appear in the IHC to secure bail in Al Qadir Trust case that led to his arrest on May 9. The court had granted him bail till May 31 after his release from prison. Justice Mian Gul Aurangzeb heads the division bench that will be hearing the case.

Imran will also appear in multiple other cases including one for taking out a rally to support the judiciary.

Party sources have confirmed that Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi had left for Islamabad on Wednesday morning.

Since being ousted from power last year, Imran Khan has been implicated in dozens of cases of various natures. He has claimed that the number of cases against him is over 100.

He was appearing in Islamabad High Court to secure bail in multiple cases on May 9 when Rangers picked him up from the biometric registration room. It was later revealed that the arrest had been ordered by the National Accountability Bureau in the Al-Qadir Trust Case, now renamed the £190 million case.

Imran’s wife, Bushra, and the ministers who served in his cabinet have also been nominated in the case.