The highest court in Islamabad has granted bail to former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, days after his detention on corruption allegations caused a deadly uprising against the military.
Khan was given a two-week interim parole order on Friday by a judge in the High Court of the capital city.
“I am positive that I will be detained once more. In advance of his hearing, Khan told CNN outside the courtroom, “I was given permission by the NAB to talk to my wife, and arrest warrants have also been issued for her.
It came a day after Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled Khan’s arrest on Tuesday by Pakistan’s anti-graft agency, the National Accountability Bureau (NBI), was unlawful.
Khan’s party had filed a petition to challenge the illegal land acquisition charges against him by the NBI.
His dramatic arrest outside the courthouse in the capital Islamabad on Tuesday sparked outrage among Mr Khan’s supporters.
At least 10 people were killed and some 2,000 arrested as unrest swept the country. Those protests included an attack at a military commander’s home residence in Lahore, which was set on fire.
While this week’s violence petered out after the army was deployed in Islamabad and other areas, such as Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the country remains on edge.
There was a large security presence at the court on Friday.
Speaking to the BBC before his bail hearing, Mr Khan said he feared immediate re-arrest once released, urged authorities against a move as “there might be huge reaction which will go out of control. Because mobs are out of control, no-one controls mobs.”
“How am I supposed to control what happens afterwards?” he told the BBC.
While the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the circumstances of the arrest were illegal, the corruption charges against him still stand.
Mr Khan pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday, when a judge formally indicted him with corruption for the first time in the dozens of cases he faces.
And Mr Khan told the BBC on Friday that he was also facing dozens of additional charges, including counts of terrorism, sedition and blasphemy.