Pakistan’s Supreme Court rejected on Monday a request for an immediate meeting between lawyers and jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, while issuing notices to the government to respond to a related petition on Tuesday.
The request was filed by senior lawyer Latif Khosa on behalf of Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI. Khan is currently imprisoned in connection with multiple legal cases.
A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Yahya Afridi, along with Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, heard several petitions linked to Khan.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Afridi said the court could not pass any order on a jail meeting without first hearing the government. “We cannot issue any such order without notice,” he said, adding that the matter would be decided after the government’s response.
Addressing Khosa, the chief justice said the court must first address objections regarding the maintainability of the petition. He noted that several cases involving Khan were already pending before other courts.
“At this stage, the objection regarding maintainability must be crossed,” the chief justice said.
Justice Afridi also observed that the matter appeared, in the court’s view, to have become infructuous. Referring to an Aug. 24, 2023, order that is under challenge, he said the court would need to determine whether the case had lost its relevance or could still be pursued.
“We have to see whether the case has become infructuous or is still maintainable,” he said.
The top court also ordered the formation of a three-member bench to hear appeals filed against Khan’s acquittal in the cipher case. Similar directions were issued for constituting a three-member bench to hear appeals against the acquittal of former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the same case.
In a separate matter, the court dismissed Khan’s bail petition in the Al-Qadir Trust case after declaring it infructuous. That hearing was also conducted by the two-member bench led by Chief Justice Afridi.
The court adjourned further proceedings and said it would take up the matters again after receiving the government’s response.
Khan, who was elected prime minister in 2018, was removed from office in 2022 through a parliamentary vote of no confidence. His arrest in May 2023 triggered protests across the country, including demonstrations directed at the military, followed by a crackdown on his party.
PTI later emerged as the single largest party in Pakistan’s 2024 general election. The party alleges that rigging deprived it of additional seats, allowing rival parties to form a coalition government under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Shehbaz and his coalition partners have denied the allegations.
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