ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request seeking an “immediate” meeting with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, ruling that no such order could be passed without hearing the government. The court subsequently issued a notice to the authorities for Tuesday.
Earlier, the apex court had fixed 13 petitions related to Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi for hearing. It also noted that PTI’s memorandum seeking jail visitation rights for its founder had been forwarded to the relevant executive authorities for consideration under the law.
Imran Khan has remained incarcerated since August 2023 after being convicted in multiple cases, which he maintains were politically motivated following his removal through a no-confidence vote in April 2022.
The request for an immediate meeting was filed by senior PTI leader Latif Khosa and was heard by a two-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan.
Observing that such relief could not be granted without issuing notice to the other side, the bench rejected the plea and summoned the government to respond on Tuesday.
Addressing Khosa, Chief Justice Afridi remarked that the court must first overcome the “hurdle of maintainability” of the application, pointing out that several related matters were already pending before other courts. He also noted that the petition appeared to have become infructuous in light of an earlier order passed on August 24, 2023.
The chief justice reiterated that no order regarding a jail meeting could be issued without first hearing the government’s stance.
Separately, the Supreme Court ordered the constitution of a three-member bench to hear appeals against Imran Khan’s acquittal in the cipher case. Another three-member bench will hear similar appeals against PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s acquittal in the same matter. Both leaders were acquitted by the Islamabad High Court on June 3, 2024.
During proceedings in the Al-Qadir University Trust case, in which Imran Khan was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment in 2025, the court dismissed his bail petition as infructuous.
According to a supplementary cause list issued last week, the court also took up the Punjab government’s appeal against the grant of bail to Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi. Appeals against proceedings under the Official Secrets Act, a National Accountability Bureau case linked to the Al-Qadir Trust, and Imran Khan’s challenge to a Rs10 billion defamation suit filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif were also scheduled for hearing.
‘Political victimisation’
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Imran Khan’s counsel Salman Safdar described the simultaneous hearing of 14 petitions as a “clear sign of political victimisation”.
He said the government had filed appeals against “every case in which the former prime minister had obtained relief”, adding that despite the Supreme Court previously granting relief in several matters, access to his client remained restricted.
“In the last five months, we have only been allowed a five-minute meeting,” Safdar said, lamenting delays in fixing hearings and restrictions on lawyer-client meetings.
He said he was representing Imran Khan in more than 300 cases, with bail petitions pending in 58 cases before an accountability court judge. Safdar also claimed that despite approaching the Islamabad High Court earlier this month, no cases had been fixed for hearing.
Criticising the IHC, he alleged it had been “reduced to a palace for show” and argued that the issue should therefore be addressed directly by the Supreme Court.
Raising concerns about Imran Khan’s health, Safdar said the defence had not yet sought bail on medical grounds but insisted that lawyers should not be kept uninformed about the former premier’s condition.
Imran Khan has been held at Rawalpindi’s Central Jail since August 5, 2023. A two-page memorandum submitted by the PTI on Friday alleged repeated violations of his rights as a prisoner, including claims of a “secretive medical procedure” carried out at a hospital in Islamabad without informing his family, in breach of jail rules.
PTI leader Salman Akram Raja also told the media that the party had complained about delays in fixing its cases at the IHC, alleging that only government appeals were being prioritised.
“Khan Sahib is not allowed to meet us, and he has no access to information about his own cases,” Raja said, calling the situation “completely unfair”. He added that the medical report shared with the defence was incomplete but vowed that the party would continue pursuing legal remedies despite diminishing expectations of justice.