Salman Akram Raja says Islamabad High Court has become a closed door for PTI founder’s legal team
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi addresses a video message on January 27, 2026. Screen recording
ISLAMABAD:
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Wednesday attempted to speak in the rostrum of Pakistan’s Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar, but the Chief Justice left for his chamber without listening to him.
Speaking to the media outside the court, Afridi said that since it had not been possible to meet Dogar through other channels, he had attempted to address him in open court. He approached the rostrum and greeted the president of the Supreme Court, but his greeting was not reciprocated. After waiting for an hour and fifteen minutes, the prime minister said he did not even receive a response.
Afridi said the purpose of the visit was to demonstrate that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is not involved in protests or anarchic politics. “We want to affirm that after exhausting all options, we will hold peaceful protests, which is our right,” he said.
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He added that doctors at Shaukat Khanum Hospital had also submitted a request for a medical examination of PTI founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan, but that request was not accepted.
PTI Senior Advocate and General Secretary Salman Akram Raja also spoke to the media and said efforts were being made to ensure access to doctors and Imran’s family. He said the court had ordered two weekly meetings (one day for the lawyers and another for the family) and that when he appeared in court with Afridi, the jail superintendent was instructed to arrange the meeting.
However, despite it being the same day, the meeting was never arranged. A contempt of court petition was subsequently filed, but was not accepted. When older contempt petitions were finally heard, Raja said, they were dismissed.
As the high court did not take any action for the violation of its own order, Raja said the matter was taken to the Supreme Court. The requests submitted for Imran’s medical examination could also not be met. “Islamabad High Court is a closed door for us,” he said. “Here we can present petitions, but they are not heard.”
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Raja pointed to a separate case related to social media platform X, set for hearing against Imran, in which the court had ordered that Raja be allowed to meet the former prime minister. “I said without a meeting, how can a reply be sent on behalf of the PTI founder?” said. He was not allowed to meet Imran, but the court proceeded anyway and ordered that a reply be filed and arguments presented without it.
Raja said that each party has the right to present its position and that Afridi, as a representative of 45 million people, had decided to appear before the court and ask for exactly that. After the cases were concluded, the prime minister tried to speak, but the chief justice got up and left, the secretary-general said.
“From here we will also approach the Supreme Court. Imran Khan’s case will have to be fought by the nation and the people,” Raja said.
Meanwhile, a man was deprived of his mobile phone in the corridor of the high court after recording a video of KP Chief Minister Afridi.
Police confiscated the mobile phone of a person who accompanied the prime minister to film his departure and deleted the video, according to details. Once the video was deleted, the mobile phone was returned to the interested party.
