With PTI leader Imran Khan having been in jail for over two years, his lawyer, Latif Khosa, on Thursday met with Chief Justice Yahya Afridi to deliver a letter from the former prime minister. The letter details his hardships in prison and requests the prompt scheduling of his pending cases.
Mr. Khosa handed over the letter to the top judge during a meeting that lasted more than an hour and later informed the media that the CJP had assured a “positive response” to their plight within 24 hours. The Chief Justice also asked them to file a formal application in this regard.
To deliver the letter, titled “Denial of Justice and Fundamental Rights — A Call to the Supreme Court,” Mr. Khosa arrived with Aleema Khan, Javed Hashmi, and other PTI leaders. The others were briefly stopped by police at the Supreme Court entrance but were subsequently allowed inside, where they waited until the meeting between the CJP and Mr. Khosa concluded.
Following the meeting, Mr. Khosa told reporters that the Chief Justice had listened to them attentively and assured them that a policy of producing any arrested person in court within 24 hours would be guaranteed. According to Dawn.com, Mr. Khosa stated that the CJP had requested a written list of the former premier’s complaints regarding jail conditions, assuring that his grievances would be addressed and responded to within 24 hours. “We will inform you about whatever happens in the next 24 hours,” he said. Mr. Khosa also mentioned that he had conveyed their “reservations” about the judiciary to the Chief Justice and raised the issue of jail reforms, to which the CJP “has sought suggestions.”
Aleema Khan, Imran Khan’s sister, who was with the lawyer during the media interaction, announced that they would return to the apex court on Friday to learn the outcome of the letter penned by Imran Khan.
‘The Door of Justice’
In his message to the Chief Justice, the former prime minister claimed that “the doors of justice remain closed to him and his wife” and that he has had to endure “continuous solitary confinement.” The PTI leader stated that he is facing 300 “politically motivated cases” and requested the CJP to arrange for an immediate hearing of his pending petitions before all courts. He also demanded medical treatment facilities for his spouse, Bushra Bibi, and phone access to his sons as mandated by the jail manual. “Her health continues to deteriorate, yet her doctor is barred from examining her, let alone provide any treatment,” he wrote in the letter.
According to the PTI chief, thousands of the party’s supporters are in jail, and many, including his nephew, have been subjected to military trials in violation of constitutional protections. His letter also referenced the “leaked” Commonwealth report on the Feb 8 elections, stating that the PTI’s mandate was “stolen overnight.” The letter claimed that the 26th Amendment has been used to legitimize this “mandate theft,” while petitions challenging it remain unheard in the apex court.
The letter alleged that the Islamabad High Court’s chief justice deliberately refused to schedule his appeals for the Al-Qadir Trust (£190m corruption case) and Toshakhana cases. It claimed that the IHC’s top judge has “fully abandoned impartiality and reduced the high court to a facilitator of an ‘unjust and tyrannical campaign’” against him and his associates. He urged the CJP to direct Justice Sarfraz Dogar to fix critical petitions, including the Al-Qadir Trust case.
The letter also alluded to the hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was executed on April 4, 1979, with the Supreme Court later ruling in 2024 that fair trial and due process requirements were not met. “Justice in its truest sense must happen in real time; pyrrhic justice occurs 44 years later,” the letter stated.
“I, as Patron-in-Chief of Pakistan’s largest political party, seek only what the Constitution guarantees: justice, dignity, and equality before law,” the letter concluded.
