• Imran Khan is scheduled to appear before the Lahore High Court for a hearing on his bail plea

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    Imran Khan is scheduled to appear before the Lahore High Court for a hearing on his bail plea
    A substantial police presence was stationed at the LHC's main entrance ahead of the hearing.

    Digital Desk: Imran Khan, Pakistan's former prime minister, is scheduled to appear in the Lahore High Court on Monday for a hearing on his bail application in connection with violent protests outside the election commission.

    As the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified Khan, 70, in the illegal funding case last year, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) activists staged a protest.

    According to Pakistani media sources, Khan is scheduled to appear in court for a hearing on his bail plea in the case.

    Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh is hearing the case.

    A substantial police presence was stationed at the LHC's main entrance ahead of the hearing.

    Last week, an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad denied Khan's appeal for an extension of his interim bail in the case involving the violent protests outside the ECP.

    Judge Raja Jawad Abbas of Islamabad's Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) said Khan had been given ample time to appear before the court but had failed to do so, while his lawyer Babar Awan urged the court to grant a one-time exemption from in-person appearance because Khan had not recovered from a gun attack last year.

    The judge declined to accept the petition and ordered Khan to attend, adding that the court could not grant any relief to a "powerful person" like Khan that would not be granted to an ordinary person.

    Eventually, the judge refused to prolong the interim release, leaving the cricketer-turned-politician exposed to police arrest after surviving an assassination attempt in November last year.

    After Khan was disqualified for concealing party financing data, the PTI leadership instructed party activists to hold protests across the country, including near the ECP.