• Legal team meets PTI chief, laments ‘distressing conditions’
• Qureshi says Imran to remain party chief, come what may

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chair­man Imran Khan on Mon­day filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking transfer from Attock jail to a better class in Adiala jail, Rawalpindi.

The former prime minister also sought permission for regular visits by his legal team, family members, physician Faisal Sultan and political aides to the jail.

The plea said the PTI chairman was moved to Attock with the intent to deny him fundamental rights as “A-Class facilities are available in Adiala Jail, where the respondents have provided A and B-Class facilities to equally placed persons; still in disregard of Article 25 of the Constitu­tion, the petitioner has been discriminated against”.

“The lodging of the petitioner at Attock jail has not been authorised under any warrant or law and as such required to be set at naught,” it added.

However, the IHC registrar’s office raised administrative objections to the pet­i­tion filed by the legal team of Mr Khan. As per these objections, the petition was not duly signed by Mr Khan, his wakalatnama (power of attorney) was signed by a lawyer and it was not attested by the superintendent of Attock jail.

The petition cited the int­erior secretary, the Islam­abad chief commissioner, and the superintendents of Adiala and Attock jails as respondents. The petition stated that Mr Khan “is from an affluent family… gra­duated from Oxford Uni­v­e­rsity, UK, and the most cel­ebrated captain of Pakis­tani cricket team during the eighties and nineties”.

It stated that Mr Khan was arrested following his conviction in a fake and manipulated complaint. His warrant of commitment was issued in the name of SP Adiala Jail; however, he was shifted to Attock jail by the order of the Punjab government, and it has yet to be ascertained under which provision of law he was being kept in the said prison.

The petition stated that Mr Khan has been kept in a 9x11 feet cell with an annexed “dirty” bathroom and has been denied access to his lawyers, family members, personal doctor, political aides and other relevant individuals. The legal team visited the jail for executing the power of attorney, but they were denied access even to reach the dungeon, it added.

“Keeping in view the petitioner’s social and political status, his education and his being accustomed to a better living style, the petitioner was entitled to A-Class facilities in jail.”

Separately, a five-member medical team of the Punjab health department examined the PTI chairman on Sunday. According to the head of the medical team, Dr Jawad Elahi, the PTI chairman’s condition was completely fine.

‘Distressing conditions’

On Monday, PTI chief’s lawyer Naeem Haider Panjotha after a meeting with the former prime minister claimed that the former premier was being kept in “distressing conditions” in prison. He was facing a paucity of facilities as per his entitlement, he said while talking to reporters outside the jail. The lawyer had visited the prison to get his power of attorney and other documents signed.

The meeting between Imran Khan and his lawyer lasted for an hour and 45 minutes.

The lawyer claimed that Imran Khan was not allowed to meet or talk to anyone over the phone. “I am the only person who has met him since the arrest.” “I asked Khan sahib about the situation in jail after his arrest. He said he is being kept in a dark, small, C-Class, chakki wala [manual labour] room. He said there is an open washroom there, which does not have a shower. Khan sahib said there was an open washroom, without any doors or walls, and rainwater entered his cell last night. He said the jail has flies in the morning and insects in the evening,” Mr Panjotha said.

‘Imran to lead PTI’

In a press conference in Islamabad, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, looking after the affairs of the party in the absence of the chairman, said Imran Khan will remain the head of the party ‘come what may’.

“Imran Khan has planted the PTI and being a founder he will always remain the head and fatherly figure for the party. Currently, Mian Shehbaz Sharif is the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, but the party is being run by Nawaz Sharif [as its supreme leader],” he said during the presser flanked by PTI legal team members Shoaib Shaheen, Naeem Panjutha and others.

“The purpose of the meeting was to get the power of attorney signed for legal purposes and filing of applications. Members of the federal cabinet have been lying by claiming that ‘B-Class’ [facilities] has been given to Mr Khan,” he said, adding that the former premier was not given the protocol he was entitled to.

“Jail has been made practically a no-go area and ways to jail have been blocked. We have decided to take up the issue with the apex courts,” he said.

Speaking about general elections, Mr Qureshi said since it has been decided that the National Assembly would be dissolved on Aug 9, therefore the PTI demanded elections to be held within 90 days.

“I would say maximum it should take 120 days to hold general elections,” he said, adding that the PTI was also considering challenging the extended tenure of the caretaker governments in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Meanwhile, the PTI core committee denounced the government for keeping the party chairman incarcerated in “deplorable conditions”.

In a separate statement, the Election Commission of Pakistan said no meeting was held by the commission to discuss the removal of PTI chairman from his party position.

Amjad Iqbal in Taxila also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2023