ISLAMABAD:
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi is expected to visit Adiala Jail on Thursday (today) to meet Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder president Imran Khan.
Senator Ali Zafar has included the KP chief minister’s name at the top of a five-member list of PTI leaders scheduled to meet Imran. The list has been sent to the Adiala jail administration.
Besides Afridi, the list includes MNA Junaid Akbar, MPA Meena Khan, Sajjad Cheema and Rana Faraz Noon.
It was stated that the PTI delegation will meet the founder today as part of the party’s scheduled day visit. This will be Afridi’s second attempt to meet Imran as his previous request for a meeting was not approved.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has constituted a larger bench to hear all cases related to meetings with the founding president of the PTI in jail, including one filed by the KP chief minister.
According to the court’s cause list, a three-member larger bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar and comprising Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Justice Azam Khan will take up the cases on Thursday (today).
The petitions set for hearing include Afridi’s request for permission to meet Imran in jail, as well as a statement from an inmate named Irfan, who sought jail facilities similar to those provided to the PTI founder.
The court will also hear contempt of court petitions filed by Shibli Faraz, Aleema Khan, Salman Akram Raja and other PTI leaders, who have maintained that despite clear directives from the court, no permission has been granted to meet the PTI founder in prison.
Besides, petitions related to jail visitation rules, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and other administrative matters related to Adiala Jail and the Punjab government have also been filed before the same court.
The IHC has issued the cause list for hearing, scheduling all related petitions for joint proceedings today.