ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request by the counsel for Imran Khan to allow him to meet the jailed former prime minister on urgent basis as it referred various appeals related to the PTI founder to different benches.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi and Justice Shahid Bilal Hasan took up 13 different cases including appeals filed by the Punjab government against Imran Khan’s bail as well as an appeal against the grant of bail to his wife Bushra Bibi.
During the hearing, the court declined the request for an immediate meeting with the PTI founder. However, on an application filed by his counsel Latif Khosa seeking permission to meet his client, the court issued a notice to the government for Tuesday (today).
CJP Afridi observed that no such order could be passed without issuing notice to the other party, adding that the court must first address objections regarding the maintainability of the petition.
He also noted that several related matters were already pending before other courts and remarked that the case appeared to have become infructuous, as it stemmed from an order dated August 24, 2023. “We will first determine whether the case is indeed infructuous or still maintainable,” he said.
Meanwhile, the court directed the formation of a three-member bench to hear appeals against the acquittal of Imran Khan and PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case.
The court also dismissed, on grounds of being infructuous, petitions and applications for cancellation of Imran’s bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case, as well as bail cancellation petitions in the Toshakhana case involving the PTI founder and Bushra Bibi.
The court also ordered the constitution of a three-member bench to hear bail cancellation petitions related to the May 9 Lahore incidents and adjourned hearings in both the cipher case and the May 9 cases for two weeks.
The court also adjourned for 14 days the defamation case filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif against former PM Imran Khan and referred the matter to a three-member bench.
During the hearing, Justice Shahid Bilal Hasan inquired about the status of the case and was informed that the main matter was pending before the Lahore High Court.
Later, the Supreme Court issued a written order in the criminal petitions filed by the PTI founder, issuing notices to the parties and the Attorney General for Pakistan.
The order noted that the court had prima facie observed that the cases appeared infructuous, while the petitioner’s counsel argued that they involved maintainable legal questions.
Latif Khosa referred to the August 24, 2023 order and informed the court that a required report had not been submitted, requesting that a report on his client’s condition in jail be placed on record. The case will be taken up again today.
