ISLAMABAD: Former premier Imran Khan, in his first courtroom interaction with Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, complained of difficulties in seeking legal assistance for a case about changes to accountability laws.
Imran, currently incarcerated at Adiala Jail, told CJP Isa, “They (jail authorities) do not let me meet my legal team. I am being kept in solitary confinement here. I neither have any material nor a library to prepare for the case.”
The development came as a five-member bench resumed hearing intra-court appeals (ICAs) moved by the federal government against the SC’s Sept 15 majority judgment, which struck down amendments to the anti-graft laws.
Today, the bench — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and including Justices Athar Minallah, Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, and Hasan Azhar Rizvi — decided in a 4:1 ruling not to stream the proceedings live.
The last hearing had turned out anticlimactic as ex-premier Imran Khan had appeared via video link but did not get a chance to speak as a petitioner in the matter.Earlier this month, the SC had ordered the federal and Punjab governments to facilitate Imran’s appearance before the court via video link from Adiala jail, where he is currently incarcerated.
While the May 14 hearing had been broadcast live, the last one was not, with the reason remaining unclear.As per the court orders at the last hearing, Imran again appeared via video link today.The bench took a short break to mull whether to live-stream the hearing and in a majority 4:1 decision, chose not to, with Justice Minallah dissenting from it.
If live-streamed, this would have been Imran’s first public appearance since his arrest from Zaman Park in August last year in the Toshakhana case despite reservations expressed by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar about the SC’s directives.
The apex court is seized with a number of intra-court appeals (ICAs) moved by the federal government as well as by a private citizen Zuhair Ahmed Siddiqui, who was an accused in a corruption case but not a party to the challenges to the NAB amendments case.
