LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday directed former prime minister Imran Khan to join investigation being carried out by police into cases against him.

The PTI chief reached the court along with his counsel amid strict security as a larger bench, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, resumed hearing on his petition challenging the registration of as many as 121 cases against him.

Justice Aalia Neelum, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh, Justice Anwarul Haq Pannun and Justice Muhammad Amjad Rafiq were other members of the bench.

At the outset, Justice Najafi told Barrister Salman Safdar, the counsel for Imran Khan, the petition was well drafted but legal points were not easy to be found due to the details about the petitioner and his government.

When Justice Neelum asked whether the petitioner was nominated in all the FIRs, the counsel said he would take 15 minutes to present the whole case record before the bench. He said politically motivated cases had been registered against the petitioner by police at the behest of the government.

The counsel said it was a matter of a 71-year-old citizen who appears before courts to seek bail every other day, which is not humanly possible.

Justice Najafi asked the counsel to present legal points if he wanted to get the cases quashed.

Barrister Safdar said as many as 140 cases had been registered against the former prime minister since the Wazirabad attack on him. He said police themselves became complainants these cases. He said many cases had been discharged by the courts which established the mala fide of the government and police.

The counsel pointed out that police had registered a case against 2,500 persons and only Imran Khan obtained a pre-arrest bail in it.

Justice Najafi reminded the counsel that the points raised by him were supposed to be decided by trial courts. “Why do you want to bypass the legal process?” the judge asked the counsel.

To a court’s query, the counsel said the petitioner had secured pre-arrest bails in 25 cases.

Justice Pannun asked the counsel to say clearly as to what relief he wanted from the court.

Justice Neelum observed that the service of a court summons was not facilitated by the petitioner and the police lodged another case. She asked the counsel whether a police officer was not injured when the security personnel visited the petitioner’s Zaman Park residence to serve the summons.

The counsel expressed his inability to confirm it.

The judge observed that the alleged incident needed to be investigated and the petitioner should let the police complete their probe.

Barrister Safdar argued that the petitioner had not been provided with entitled security being a former prime minister.

To an observation by Justice Najafi, the counsel admitted that no new FIR had been registered against the petitioner since the larger bench had taken up the matter.

Extraordinary relief

Opposing the petition, an additional advocate general argued that the petitioner was asking for an extraordinary relief from the court by claiming that he was a former premier and won a cricket world cup.

Justice Pannun asked the law officer how many times 150 cases were registered against an individual since the creation of Pakistan.

The law officer, however, said the petitioner had not joined the investigation in any of the cases against him.

Justice Neelum observed that the pre-arrest bail was granted on assurance of joining police investigation. She noted that the petitioner previously alleged a police operation during Eid holidays but nothing happened.

Imran Khan’s counsel assured the bench that the petitioner was ready to join the investigation into all cases.

Third assassination attempt

With court’s permission, the PTI chief also spoke and alleged that a third assassination attempt was being hatched against him. He said he survived two attempts on his life, one in Wazirabad and another at Islamabad Judicial Complex, where the intelligence apparatus had taken charge of the building a night before the hearing.

Mr Khan said his life was in danger and frequent appearances before courts will expose him more to danger. Without naming anyone, he said they wanted to eliminate him.

Justice Najafi told the ex-PM that he should have trust in the court and directed him to join the investigation and sought a report from the government on May 8.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2023