SC declined Request for Immediate Meeting With Imran Khan, Issues Notice to Govt

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday declined a request seeking an immediate meeting with PTI founder Imran Khan.

Earlier, the apex court had scheduled 13 petitions linked to Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi for hearing and noted that PTI’s memorandum requesting jail visitation rights for its founder had been forwarded to the relevant executive authorities for consideration under the law.

The request for an immediate meeting, filed by senior PTI leader Latif Khosa, was rejected by a two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Yayha Afridi and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan.

The court observed that such an order could not be issued without first serving notice to the government. Consequently, notice was issued to the government for Tuesday.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Afridi told Khosa that “we have to overcome the hurdle of the maintainability of the application”, adding, “Keep in mind that you have cases pending in other courts.”

The chief justice remarked, “We believe that the case has become infructuous,” while recalling an August 24, 2023, order “against which the case was filed”. He further said the court “can not issue any order regarding the meeting without issuing notice”.

The Supreme Court also directed the formation of a three-member bench to hear appeals against Imran Khan’s acquittal in the cipher case. Another three-member bench was ordered to hear appeals against the acquittal of PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the same matter.

Meanwhile, during the hearing of Imran Khan’s bail petition in the Al-Qadir University Trust case, the court dismissed the plea as infructuous.

Speaking to the media afterward, Imran Khan’s lawyer Salman Safdar said that the “chief justice today heard all the petitioners against the PTI founder’s cases.”

He said, “Every case in which Imran Khan had received some relief earlier, appeals were filed against it by the government,” adding that “the cipher case was the most high-stakes trial in Pakistan, and you saw how it ended.”

“All the live cases are still pending,” he said, while maintaining that the Supreme Court had “always granted us relief”. He added that he had “appealed to meet the chief justice”.

Recalling the past five months, Safdar said, “we have only had a five-minute meeting” with the former prime minister. He added, “Our cases are not being fixed for hearing, and there is a ban on our meetings.”

He further termed the hearing of 14 petitions together as a “sign of political targeting” and said he was representing the jailed PTI founder in “more than 300 cases”. He added that “Bails are pending before Judge Afzal Majoka in 58 cases”.

Safdar also referred to a “special law that existed for the bail of a woman” and recalled that “a letter was written to the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) this month”. However, he said the “IHC is not ready to fix any case for hearing”.

Maintaining that the IHC “had no standing at all”, he said such matters should be referred to the Supreme Court, adding that the IHC had been “reduced to a palace for show”.

He further said that the defence had “not yet even brought up medical ground in the court” for bail, but added, “This does not mean that we should be kept in the dark about PTI founder’s health.”

Separately, PTI leader Salman Akram Raja told the media that the party had “submitted a memorandum that cases were not being fixed in the IHC”. He said, “The cases heard today were government cases, which were unnecessary.”

“The cases in which we are seeking relief have not yet been fixed,” he said, adding, “Khan Sahib is not being allowed to meet us, and neither does he have any information regarding the facts.”

Calling the situation unfair, he said they had been “given an incomplete medical report” and concluded, “We have no hope of getting justice at this point; however, we will keep knocking on the doors of the court.”