Govt urges for calm amid PTI's 'anti-people' protest call

The ruling coalition called for calm after leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) asked workers and supporters to take to the streets to protest against the possible arrest of former prime minister and party chief Imran Khan.

As PTI supporters continued flocking to Bani Gala, the hometown and current residence of the PTI chief, after he was booked for terrorism, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif continued to spread his message of progress and prosperity.

“Anything deviating from this path” he termed as “anti-people”.

In a less subtle tone, Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique urged all political parties to set their differences aside albeit only temporarily and focus their energy on helping the “millions of Pakistanis suffering from the ravages of floods”.

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, however, compared the PTI chief with the likes of Hiter, Mir Jafar, Stalin and Mussolini. Calling Imran out for his “hypocrisy”, Ahsan Iqbal mocked Imran for his slogan of “true freedom”.

Expressing his dismay over Imran Khan’s “threats” to Islamabad police officials and a female judge, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah thrashed Imran for being an “instigator”.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb also termed Imran a “foreign agent” who she claimed has “become a threat to Pakistan and its security”.

Read PTI supporters flock to Bani Gala as threat of Imran's arrest looms

“By challenging the national institutions and the state writ, they are inciting the people to violence, lawlessness, rebellion and riot,” she added denouncing him for wanting “civil war in the country”.

Another Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hina Parvez Butt also called Imran Khan out for first “threatening the judges and then going to them for pre-arrest bails”

She also appeared to be supporting rumours floating on social media that Imran Khan had fled his residence in Bani Gala and mocked PTI supporters for being “naïve” enough to be “guarding the palace” without him.

Meanwhile, estranged PTI founding member and Akbar S Babar also supported the rival party's criticism of Imran Khan.

He condemned the party for "threatening government officials" but simultaneously took a jab at the government over its inaction out of "political compulsions".

IHC grants pre-arrest bail

Meanwhile, PTI chief Imran Khan was granted a pre-arrest bail till August 25 by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) after being booked under terrorism charges.

The bail plea was heard by Justice Mohsin Akthar Kayani and Justice Babar Sattar, who approved the bail and ordered him to approach the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) within these three days.

Read More PTI to challenge ban on live telecast of Imran’s speeches

Imran’s counsel, Babar Awan and Faisal Chaudhry, argued that the PTI chief should be granted protective bail as he wanted to appear before the ATC, but his house was “surrounded by the police”.

They further feared that the police personnel could arrest Imran if he appeared in court without a protective bail.