Islamabad:
Since the approval of the 26th constitutional amendment, Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) has been drifted in hostile judicial waters, struggling to ensure significant relief of the country’s superior courts.
The party, whose founder and Chief Imran Khan has remained imprisoned for more than two years, continues to beg the Judiciary for the hearings about their cases. However, progress has remained slow since PTI’s requests persist.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s prime minister (KP), Ali Amin Gandapur, has once again transferred to the Supreme Court, looking for instructions for the authorities to organize their meeting with the leading pattern imprisoned by the party in the Adiala prison.
The appeal is not Gandapur’s first attempt to meet Imran. In June, he presented a similar petition, which returned the SC Registrar office. An appeal against these objections in the Chamber is still pending.
On June 25, Gandapur appeared in court n. ° 1, where Judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah directed the bank in the absence of the president of the Supreme Court Yahya Afridi, who was in Lahore.
When Gandapur requested that his plea for a meeting with Khan enterts himself, arguing that it was necessary to discuss the provincial budget, Judge Shah advised him to approach the CJP or the office registration.
The renewed petition occurred after Imran’s statement on Tuesday, in which he instructed Gandapur to formally search the SC permit for that meeting.
“Previously, during the budgetary process, meetings or consultations were carried out with me. Ali Amin must come and inform me about the government, law and order, and other important provincial issues. For this, efforts must be made in each forum, including the Supreme Court,” read a statement issued on behalf of Imran Khan in his account of social networks.
Currently, the Constitutional Bank can only occupy matters of public interest. However, since June 27, he has not held a single audience. Meanwhile, dozens of constitutional requests of PTI remain pending.
Party experts admit that PTI’s legal team is also reluctant to pursue these cases until the fate of the requests that challenge the amendment 26 is decided.
Until now, the Constitutional Bank has issued three failures that have severely weakened the legal position of PTI. First, while exercising his revision jurisdiction, he revoked an previous SC verdict that he had titled PTI to reserved seats. Secondly, he supported PTI activists’ trial in military courts.
Third, he confirmed the transfer of judges of several courts higher than the Superior Court of Islamabad (IHC), where PTI has fought to obtain relief. Imran Khan had also challenged the transfer of judges.
In the IHC, since March, the requests presented by Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi seek the suspension of their sentences in the case of trust Al-Qadir remain undecided, despite the repeated requests for an early audience.
PTI also complains that despite IHC’s instructions, prison authorities continue to restrict meetings between Imran Khan and party leaders and family members. On Tuesday, after three months, the secretary general of PTI and the members of the Imran Khan family finally were allowed to meet him.
During a separate meeting with his legal team, Imran Khan expressed his disappointment for the failure of the Judiciary to provide relief.
He said: “After the 26th constitutional amendment, the Judiciary has become completely subordinate. These judges without conscience do not take measures against human rights violations.”
Like the SC and IHC, PTI has also faced setbacks in the Superior Court of Lahore (LHC) with respect to the cases of May 9.
The LHC has made it clear that the convicts must surrender before their appeals against convictions can be heard. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Electoral Commission (ECP), acting in a hurry, unleashed MNA condemned and issued the schedule for partial elections.
In contrast, the Superior Court of Peshawar (PHC) has prevented the ECP from celebrating partial elections in certain constituencies and has even arrested the process of nomination to opposition leaders in both chambers of Parliament.
The divergence in the approach between the two superior courts has fed the debate.
Despite PTI’s complaints, a Bank of three SC judges led by the CJP Aphridi recently granted the bail of Imran Khan in eight cases linked to the incidents of May 9.
Meanwhile, the observers point out that it is also a fact that PTI historically obtained more relief from the Judiciary compared to rival political parties, particularly before the mandate of former CJP Qazi Faez Faez Isa.
Imran Khan was even declared “SADIQ and AMEEN” by the SC under the former CJP Saqib Nisar, while, on the other hand, Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by virtue of article 62 (1) (f) of the Constitution.
