ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s request for an immediate meeting with PTI founder Imran Khan in Adiala Jail, and issued notices to the federal government and others for today (Tuesday).
Imran has been in jail since August 2023, convicted in a string of cases, which the PTI leaders say were politically motivated.
A two-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, and comprising Shahid Bilal Hasan heard several petitions of Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi. Imran Khan’s sisters and a few PTI parliamentarians were present in the courtroom.
During the proceedings, senior advocate and PTI leader Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, requested the Court to direct the authorities to allow family members and the lawyers’ meeting with the PTI founder. To that the Chief Justice said that they would decide about it tomorrow (Tuesday), adding “First we have to overcome the hurdle of the maintainability of the application”. “Keep in mind that you have cases pending in other courts,” he remarked.
Khosa contended that the cases before the Court involved live issues, and required judicial determination. He then referred to the Court order dated 24-08-23, wherein the Attorney General for Pakistan was directed to file a report regarding the ‘living conditions of the petitioner in jail’, and stated “that no such report has been filed yet”.
The chief justice issued to the respondents as well as the Attorney General, and adjourned the case until today (Tuesday).
The cases fixed for hearing included the Punjab government’s appeal against the granting of bail to the PTI founder and his wife; Imran’s appeal against the case registered against him under the Official Secrets Act, the National Accountability Bureau case against the ex-premier in relation to the Al-Qadir University Trust, and Imran’s appeal against a Rs10 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The bench dismissed the application for the cancellation of bail of Imran Khan in Al-Qadir Trust case, for being infructuous. Similarly, in Toshakhana case, the applications for cancellation of Imran Khan’s bail, along with Bushra Bibi’s, were also dismissed for being infructuous.
On9thMay, Lahore incidents, the Court ordered to form a three-member bench for hearing applications for cancellation of bail of the PTI founder. The court adjourned the hearing of the applications for cancellation of bail in the cipher case and the May 9 incidents for two weeks.
The court also adjourned the PTI founder’s defamation case against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for 14 days and referred the matter to a three-member bench. Justice Hasan inquired about the status of the case, to which the court was informed that the main case is pending in the Lahore High Court.
A three-member bench will hear appeals against the PTI founder and Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s acquittal in the cipher case. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) had acquitted Imran and Qureshi in the cipher case on June 3, 2024.
Later, speaking to the media, Imran’s lawyer, Salman Safdar, maintained that hearing 14 petitions at once was a “sign of political victimization”. “The chief justice today heard all the petitions against the PTI founder’s cases,” he said.
Safdar maintained that the government had filed appeals “against every case in which the former premier had received relief”.
Recalling the cipher case, he said that “it was the most high-stakes trial in Pakistan, and you saw how it ended”, the counsel added.
Safdar said that the SC had “always granted us relief”, adding that he “appealed to meet the chief justice”. “In the past five months, we have only had a five-minute meeting” with the former premier, he said. “Our cases are not being fixed for hearing, and there is a ban on our meetings,” Safdar lamented.
The lawyer asserted that “more than 300 cases” had been filed against the incarcerated former premier. He added that multiple bail pleas were pending before Additional District and Sessions Judge Afzal Majoka.
Safdar recalled that “a letter was written to the chief justice of the IHC this month”, but said that “IHC is not ready to fix any case for hearing”. He claimed that, as IHC “had no standing at all”, such a case should be “directed to the SC”. The IHC has been “reduced to a palace for show,” Safdar said.
Regarding, former premier’s health, he said that the defence had “not yet even brought up medical grounds in the court” for bail. “This does not mean that we should be kept in the dark about PTI founder’s health,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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