ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court docket on Monday rejected the request for an “instant” assembly with PTI founder Imran Khan, and issued a discover to the federal government for tomorrow.
The SC had mounted for listening to 13 petitions associated to Imran and his partner Bushra Bibi, and mentioned PTI’s memorandum searching for jail visitation rights for the social gathering founder has been forwarded to the related government authorities for consideration underneath the legislation.
Imran has been in jail since August 2023, convicted in a string of instances he says have been politically pushed following his ouster in a 2022 no-confidence vote.
The request for the assembly, submitted by senior PTI chief Latif Khosa, was rejected by a two-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan.
The bench noticed that such an order couldn’t be handed with out listening to the opposite aspect. Therefore, a discover was then issued to the federal government for tomorrow (Tuesday).
Addressing Khosa through the listening to, CJP Afridi mentioned that “now we have to beat the hurdle of the maintainability of the appliance”. “Take into account that you’ve instances pending in different courts,” he remarked.
“We imagine that the case has develop into fruitless,” he mentioned, recalling an Aug 24, 2023 order “towards which the case was filed”.
The courtroom “can’t subject any order relating to the assembly with out issuing discover”, CJP Afridi added.
The SC additionally ordered the formation of a three-member bench to listen to appeals towards the PTI founder’s acquittal within the cipher case.
A 3-member bench has additionally been ordered to listen to appeals towards the acquittal of PTI chief Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the identical case. The Islamabad Excessive Court docket (IHC) had acquitted Imran and Qureshi within the cipher case on June 3, 2024.
Listening to Imran’s bail petition within the Al-Qadir College Belief case, wherein the previous premier was sentenced to 14 years in jail in 2025, the courtroom dismissed the PTI founder’s bail plea as infructuous.
In accordance with a supplementary cause list issued final week, the petitions mounted for listening to for Monday included the Punjab authorities’s enchantment towards the granting of bail to the PTI founder and his spouse.
Additional, Imran’s enchantment towards the case registered towards him Official Secrets and techniques Act and the Nationwide Accountability Bureau case towards the ex-premier in relation to the Al-Qadir College Belief was additionally mounted for listening to.
Imran’s enchantment towards a Rs10 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was additionally set to be heard.
‘Signal of political victimisation’
Later, chatting with the media, Imran’s lawyer, Salman Safdar, maintained that listening to 14 petitions directly was a “signal of political victimisation”.
“The chief justice at the moment heard all of the petitions towards the PTI founder’s instances,” he mentioned.
Safdar maintained that the federal government had filed appeals “towards each case wherein the previous premier had acquired aid”.
Recalling the cipher case, he mentioned that “it was probably the most high-stakes trial in Pakistan, and also you noticed the way it ended”, the counsel added.
He held that the SC had “at all times granted us aid”, including that he “appealed to fulfill the chief justice”.
“Prior to now 5 months, now we have solely had a five-minute assembly” with the previous premier, he mentioned.
“Our instances aren’t being mounted for listening to, and there’s a ban on our conferences,” Safdar lamented.
The lawyer asserted that “greater than 300 instances” had been filed towards the incarcerated former premier. He added that a number of bail pleas have been pending earlier than Extra District and Periods Choose Afzal Majoka.
Safdar recalled that “a letter was written to the chief justice of the IHC this month”, however mentioned that “IHC isn’t prepared to repair any case for listening to”.
He claimed that, as IHC “had no standing in any respect”, such a case must be “directed to the SC”.
The IHC has been “lowered to a palace for present”, Safdar mentioned.
Shifting his consideration to the previous premier’s well being, he mentioned that the protection had “not but even introduced up medical floor within the courtroom” for bail.
“This doesn’t imply that we must be stored in the dead of night about PTI founder’s well being,” he added.
The previous premier has been incarcerated since Aug 5, 2023at the moment imprisoned at Rawalpindi’s Central Jail.
A two-page memorandum filed by the PTI on Friday alleged that Imran’s rights as a prisoner and a human being have been constantly violated throughout this era.
The PTI memorandum additionally highlighted the studies about “Imran being subjected to some secretive medical process at a hospital in Islamabad and holding his kin in the dead of night in violation of jail guidelines”.
Individually, PTI chief Salman Akram Raja, chatting with the media, mentioned that the social gathering had “submitted a memorandum that instances weren’t being mounted within the IHC”.
“The instances heard at the moment have been authorities instances, which have been pointless,” Raja mentioned, including that the instances wherein the social gathering was searching for aid “haven’t but been mounted”.
Khan Sahib isn’t being allowed to fulfill us, and neither does he have any info relating to the details,” he added.
“That is fully unfair.”
Addressing the matter of Imran’s well being, he mentioned, “We’ve been given an incomplete medical report.”
“We’ve no hope of getting justice at this level; nonetheless, we’ll maintain knocking on the doorways of the courtroom,” he additional mentioned.
