The PTI chief, Sardar Latif Khosa, delivered a letter from the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-E-insaf (PTI) Imran Khan to the chief of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi and raised concerns concerning in progress, prison conditions and legal practices, said Latif Khosa.
Addressing journalists after the meeting, Khosa said that the CJP had “listened calmly” while it detailed the lack of audiences in cases related to PTI and the “bulldozer” of the trials. He described the founder of PTI as held in a 9 x 11 feet cell and said that the founder and his wife faced difficulties in prison.
Khosa said he had informed the CJP of restrictions on private meetings with family members and shared comments on penitentiary reforms, noting that the founder of the PTI had been invited to provide written suggestions.
The chief judge, he added, undertook to create a uniform policy on prison conditions and confirmed his oath to maintain fundamental rights.
Khosa also criticized the invasive searches of lawyers for the courts and described the “troubles” of the High Court. He said that he had reminded the chief judge that as a “father of the judiciary”, he had to fulfill his responsibilities within the constitutional limits.
Earlier in the day, Aleema Khan entered the Supreme Court (SC) bearing a letter from the founder imprisoned from PTI. “We want to postpone the letter from the founder of the PTI to the chief judge of the Supreme Court,” said Latif Khosa lawyer. The police arrested him, declaring that the authorization was required to pass beyond this point – the permission of the sisters of Imran Khan did not.
The letter was a plea for the chief judge, a call to “defend the oath of your office and show the people that the Supreme Court of Pakistan remains their final refuge of justice”.
Imran details the conditions under which he has now spent more than 772 days, due to more than 300 cases deposited against him. His first complaint is the way he was ostracized, mentioning how his sons cannot visit him or speak to him on the phone.
He expresses his concerns about the imprisonment of his wife, Bushra Bibi, saying that her only crime is that “she is my wife”. Khan details the solitary circumstances of Bushra Bibi’s imprisonment, how all the vertical communications sectors were stripped to him.
The deterioration of the nature of his health is brought and the injustice that surrounds her. “His doctor is prevented from examining it, and even less from providing him with treatment. The Pakistani law expressly grants special concessions for the deposit, only because of their sex.”
Multiple reports have challenged the nature of Bushra Bibi complaints. A report was published in April of this year detailing the prison conditions for the imprisonment of Bushra Bibi. The report indicated that Bushra Bibi receives regular health surveillance and has access to a dedicated kitchen space in the prison.
Read: Imran’s arrest will release chaos
The imprisonment of PTI workers after the May 9 demonstrations has established a controversial reputation for themselves. Not only for the way the trials were conducted, with the newly established practice to try civilians in the military courts, but also for the nature of the way the arrests took place.
In December 2024, without awarding legal reasoning, the Constitutional Banc (CB) of the Supreme Court had allowed the military courts to announce their verdicts in 85 cases of civilians who were in police custody to attack the military installations on May 9, 2023.
Imran questions the conditions under which the arrests were carried out: “Many have been removed, beaten and submitted to military trials in flagrant violation of constitutional protections.”
Imran lists the cases and sorrows of family members who, according to them, prove the “unprecedented victimization of my family”. The incident of the arrest of the lawyer Hassan Niazi, his 10 -year sentence made an example of it. The Sisters of Imran, who were reserved in dozens of cases and his nephews Shahrez and Shershah, both currently in prison, provided as proof.
The 26th constitutional amendment
One of the poignant remarks of the letters of Imran is his detailed objection to the constitutional amendment of the 26th, which, according to Imran, “was used as a tool to sanctify this electoral Dacity, while the petitions contesting it remain unpublished in your court”.
The 26th amendment to the constitution of Pakistan, promulgated in October 2024, introduced significant changes to the processes of structure and appointment of the judiciary.
He notably modified the method of selection of the chief judge of Pakistan, passing this responsibility for a system based on seniority to an appointment by a special parliamentary committee among the three judges of the highest Supreme Court, with a fixed period of three years.
Supporters of the amendment, including the Coalition Management led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, argue that these changes are necessary to limit the overtaking and restore the balance between the branches of the government.
They claim that past judicial decisions have undermined democratic processes, and this amendment aims to strengthen parliamentary sovereignty.
Find out more: Civil society, activists move the Supreme Court against the 26th amendment
The opposition parties, in particular Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI), qualified the amendment to weaken the judiciary.
They argue that it allows the manager to exert an undue influence on the judiciary, compromising his ability to act as a control of government power. The PTI criticized the passage of the amendment, describing it as a “dark day” in the constitutional history of Pakistan.
The founder of the PTI has raised concerns concerning the treatment with Sarfraz Dogar from the High Court of Islamabad (IHC). Imran accused the judge of “deliberately refusing to repair my trigger of Al-Qadir’s trust and Toshakhana’s requests.”
Imran’s letter adopts a dark tone when he refers to the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto affair, reminding the reader the verdict by the Supreme Court in 2024, declaring that “the requirements of fair trial and regular procedure have not been met.
The letter ends with the requests of the petitioners: “Authorizing telephone calls to my sons as mandated by Manaua’s prison. Granting access to the doctor of Bushra Bibi for his medical treatment and, ultimately, restore the judicial independence of the judiciary in Pakistan.”
