PTI founder Imran Khan has written a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, it emerged on Thursday as party leader Latif Khosa delivered it to the top judge at the Supreme Court.
In the letter dated September 16, a copy of which is available with media.com, Imran expressed grievances over several matters, including the conditions he has been kept in inside jail, and urged CJP Afridi to direct the Islamabad High Court to fix some “critical petitions” that had been “hanging in the doldrums” for hearing.
Speaking to the media after delivering Imran’s letter, Khosa said the CJP had sought the ex-premier’s complaints regarding the conditions in jail in writing and assured that his grievances would be addressed and responded to within 24 hours.
He said, “We will inform you about whatever happens in [the next] 24 hours.”
Khosa said he had also expressed “our reservations” about the judiciary to the chief justice and raised the matter of jail reforms.
“The CJP has sought suggestions over jail reforms,” he said.
Earlier, Imran’s sister Aleema Khanum had reached the court with the PTI founder’s letter, where she was reportedly barred from meeting the CJP by police. Khosa was later allowed access to the chief justice.
The letter
Imran began his letter with complaints about jail conditions, saying: “For over 772 days, from a cage measuring 9 x 11, from a dungeon of enforced silence, isolation and incommunicado, I have endured continued solitary confinement … All access to books and newspapers has been denied to me.”
“Meetings with my lawyers and family are “arbitrarily cancelled at the whims and wishes of one man”, Imran claimed, referring to the army chief.
He also alleged that his sons were barred from talking to him on phone and political workers were also not allowed to see him.
“It is not lawful imprisonment since its inception; it is only calculated psychological torture, crafted to break my will … It is an ongoing assault on the Constitution, the rule of law and the democratic future of my beloved homeland, Pakistan,” he continued.
The PTI founder also complained of “inhuman and degrading treatment” being meted out to his wife, Bushra Bibi, in jail, alleging that she was being denied medical treatment and access to books and television.
He pointed out that superior courts have held that “female prisoners are entitled to leniency through bail as a matter of right”.
Yet, in Bushra Bibi’s case, “this principle has been suspended”, he said.
The former premier then went on highlight that “thousands of my supporters and party workers continue to languish in jails” and had been “abducted, beaten and subjected to military trials in flagrant violation of constitutional protections”.
He also expressed grievances with regards to the “political victimisation” of his family members.
“Courts that should stand as guardians of liberty have been weaponised to dismantle Pakistan’s largest political party,” the further said.
Imran maintained that his PTI secured a “landslide victory” in last year’s general elections “despite the brutal tactics, the suppression of all bold voices, despite my own imprisonment”.
“Yet, the mandate of the people was stolen overnight, turning democracy into [a] farce and the Constitution into a casualty. The same has been sanctioned and rubber-stamped by the leaked report of Commonwealth 2024,” he wrote.
Although the Commonwealth Observer Group’s (COG) report on Pakistan has yet to be officially released, news outlet Drop Site News claimed that the group had “buried their report” after finding those polls to be riddled with problems.
Imran further said that “the so-called 26th Constitutional Amendment has been used as a tool to sanctify this electoral dacoity, while petitions challenging it lie unheard in your (CJP’s) court”.
CJP Afridi had ignored a decision made last year by a committee to bring challenges to the 26th Amendment before the full apex court, according to minutes of the communication exchange between the chief justice and two senior SC judges.
Imran also wrote about the allegedly “questionable conduct of the Islamabad High Court under its chief justice, a byproduct of the 26th Amendment; Justice Sarfaraz Dogar, who deliberately refuses to fix my Al-Qadir trust petitions and the Toshakhana revision petitions”.
“He has fully abandoned impartiality and reduced Islamabad High Court to a facilitator of unjust and tyrannical campaign against me and those associated with me,” Imran alleged. “I remind him to fulfil his oath, instead of hiding behind frivolous ‘policy reasons’ to justify not hearing my petitions.”
He then urged the CJP to direct the IHC to fix the aforementioned petitions for hearing. He added, “I, as the patron-in-chief of Pakistan’s largest political party, seeks only what the Constitution guarantees: justice, dignity and equality before law. I therefore request immediate hearings of the pending petitions before all courts. Allow all telephone calls to my sons as mandated by the jail manual, grant access to Bushra Bibi’s doctors for her medical treatment, and ultimately restore judicial independence of the judiciary in Pakistan.”
Imran concluded his letter, saying: “The courage of the verdicts you inscribe in the book of this nation’s destiny will go down in history … I urge Your Lordship to uphold the oath of your office and show the people that the Supreme Court of Pakistan remains their final refuge of justice.”
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