Adiala Superintendent Claims Lawyer Salman Safdar Tried to Mislead Court on Case
ISLAMABAD:
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi’s lawyer and Adiala Prison authorities on Monday made conflicting statements regarding the signing and furnishing of powers of attorney (PoA) required to represent the couple before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the ₹190 million case.
The Adiala Jail superintendent, in a written reply submitted to the IHC, claimed that the PoA signed by Imran and his wife Bushra Bibi were prepared on June 16 as per court orders and their lawyer, advocate Salman Safdar, was informed on the same day through SMS.
He alleged that lawyer Salman Safdar tried to mislead the court on the matter.
According to the response, Safdar was informed via SMS that the signed PoAs were available for collection. Prison authorities also attached a screenshot of the text message to their response submitted to the court.
The superintendent further claimed that despite being informed, the legal team representing Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi deliberately did not collect the documents before the June 18 hearing.
Responding to the prison authorities’ claims, lawyer Salman Safdar strongly disputed the warden’s version of events.
Safdar said The Express PK Press Club that members of his legal team visited Adiala Prison five to six times in the past four weeks to obtain the powers of attorney, but did not receive the documents.
He said lawyers Sarmad, Ahmad Maysar and Khalid Yousaf approached Adiala prison more than five times to obtain the documents.
According to Safdar, the repeated failed attempts forced the legal team to file a contempt petition in the Islamabad High Court on the morning of June 15. “After filing the contempt petition, it was conveyed for the first time that we could collect power of attorney executed only by Imran Khan Sahib and not by Bushra Bibi. It was unacceptable for us,” Safdar said.
