Aleema Khan seeks 21 people, including two federal ministers and one provincial minister, as court witnesses
RAWALPINDI:
An ATC in Rawalpindi on Wednesday rejected a petition filed by Aleema Khan, sister of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, seeking summons of 21 people, including two federal ministers and a provincial minister, as court witnesses in a pending case.
ATC Judge Syed Amjad Ali Shah announced the reserved verdict on Aleema Khan’s application, ruling that the proposed witnesses could not be summoned because it would amount to repeating an exercise already carried out during the trial.
The court noted that 19 prosecution witnesses had been examined exhaustively during the trial. According to the written order, the defense attorney had also conducted extensive cross-examination regarding video footage and newspaper clippings presented during the trial. The court held that calling additional witnesses on the same issues would effectively repeat the same exercise and was therefore unnecessary.
Aleema had asked the court to summon 21 people, including Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari.
The request also requested the appearance of editors and bureau chiefs of various newspapers and television channels. Special prosecutor Zaheer Shah opposed the request and presented arguments against subpoenaing the proposed witnesses for the court.
Aleema’s lawyer, Faisal Malik, presented arguments in support of the application during the proceedings held last week. After hearing both sides, the court reserved its verdict, which was announced on Wednesday.
Naqvi’s ‘offer’
Aleema Khan, sister of PTI founder Imran Khan, said on Wednesday that the family is rejecting Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi’s “offer” to facilitate a meeting between Noreen Niazi and the former prime minister through a fresh request to the jail superintendent.
Speaking to the media outside an anti-terrorism court, Aleema said PTI president Barrister Gohar had conveyed Naqvi’s message about a possible meeting between Noreen Khan and her brother.
He claimed that making a fresh application to the jail superintendent would have undermined a unanimous ruling by a full bench of the high court, arguing that the jail superintendent was a junior official compared to the authority of the court’s decision.
Aleema said the purpose of the proposal was to arrange a brief meeting between Noreen Khan and the PTI founder before placing him back in prolonged solitary confinement.
“That’s why we rejected the request,” he said.
According to Aleema, their legal experts had explained to them the “strategy of the authorities.” He said the aim was to ease international pressure by allowing only a brief meeting while maintaining existing restrictions on the PTI founder.
He also stated that, according to the prison manual, the founder of the PTI had the right to constitutional and legal meetings with his family members.
