Khan urges Pakistan’s top judges to probe ‘rights abuses, electoral violations’

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has written a 365-page letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi and Justice Aminuddin Khan, head of the Supreme Court’s Constitution bench, urging them to investigate alleged human rights violations, constitutional breaches, and electoral misconduct.

Khan’s letter follows failed negotiations with the government. He calls on the Supreme Court to establish judicial commissions to examine claims of state brutality, enforced disappearances, media censorship, and election rigging.

The letter begins by referencing an assassination attempt on Khan on Nov. 3, 2023. "The conspiracy behind this assassination attempt is yet to be honestly investigated," he wrote.

Khan details a crackdown on his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, citing the deaths of 42 protesters and bullet injuries to others during a Nov. 26, 2024, demonstration in Islamabad. He alleges that hospital records of the victims were tampered with by state authorities.

The letter also recounts his arrest on May 9, 2023, stating that several lawyers faced brutal assaults and that security forces deliberately televised the operation. Khan claims the day’s violence was orchestrated by infiltrators, not PTI supporters. He lists 16 PTI workers allegedly killed by security forces that day and says over 100 were handed over to military courts in violation of due process.

Khan highlights the abduction of Advocate Intezar Panjutha, sharing pictures from his release, and calls it an example of "brazen disdain for domestic laws." He provides lists of enforced disappearances, citing 17 cases before May 9, 19 afterward, and 38 more following the Feb. 8 elections.

He also accuses authorities of suppressing PTI through media censorship and social media restrictions. "The very idea of the rule of law and fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution has become a mere illusion," he writes.

Khan urges the judiciary to use its constitutional powers to end "state terror and brutality" and safeguard democracy. He requests judicial commissions to investigate the grievances outlined in his letter.