CJP-led bench adjourns hearing on Imran’s bail pleas in May 9 cases without issuing notices

The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of PTI Founder Imran Khan’s bail pleas in eight May 9 cases until August 12 without issuing notices as requested by the ex-premier’s lawyer.

In November 2024, a Lahore anti-terrorism court had denied Imran bail in the cases related to the May 9, 2023 riots, including an attack on the house of the Lahore corps commander. The incarcerated PTI leader’s plea challenging that was also rejected by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on June 24.

Subsequently, Imran moved the apex court last week against the LHC’s rejection of his bail pleas.

A two-member bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi and including Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui took up those applications today.

PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja appeared before the court on behalf of Imran, as his main counsel, Salman Safdar, could not attend the hearing due to being out of the country.

Raja informed the bench that Safdar has applied for an adjournment of the hearing till next week. He requested that notices be issued to the relevant parties in the matter and that the hearing be fixed for next week.

However, the bench rejected the requests and adjourned the hearing till August 12.

Imran’s appeal, filed through senior counsel Salman Safdar, claimed that the PTI founder has been accused of conspiring and abetting violence on May 9.

However, at the time of the alleged offence, Imran was in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau. Therefore, his involvement in violence was “impossible”, the petition argued.

It contended the PTI founder had been subjected to an “unprecedented campaign of political victimisation” since his ouster as prime minister two years ago.

On LHC’s rejection of the bail pleas, the fresh appeal claimed that the court relied on “engineered and fabricated evidence” which included “stale, discredited and delayed statements of police officials”.

In its detailed verdict, the two-member LHC bench comprising Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi and Tariq Mahmood Bajwa observed that the prosecution had evidence that reflected Imran’s role in the violence that broke out on May 9 following his arrest.

The bench reproduced the statements of two police officials and prosecution witnesses, who claimed to have secretly attended PTI’s meetings wherein Imran allegedly gave instructions to other leaders to attack military installations in case of his imminent arrest from the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The meetings were allegedly held at a rest area of Chakri, Rawalpindi, on May 4 and at Imran’s Zaman Park residence in Lahore on May 7-9, 2023.

Following the ex-premier’s arrest on May 9, 2023 from the IHC premises, riots erupted across the country and went on for at least 24 hours, with military installations also coming under attack.

The state subsequently launched a crackdown against him and his party, filing many cases against Imran since the events of May 9. He has been acquitted in some of those cases, including the cipher and Iddat cases.