Pak Court Allows PTI Leaders to Meet Imran Khan in Jail to Hold Election Strategy Meetings

The Islamabad High Court on Friday permitted leaders and lawyers of Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to meet him at Adiala Jail to have election strategy meetings ahead of the February 8 General polls.

The plea filed by the 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan also requested the court to instruct the superintendent of Adiala Jail to ensure his privacy during his consultations with his legal team.

According to the lawyer of the PTI, Shoaib Shaheen, the party needed to consult with Imran Khan for selection of 700 candidates. Earlier, the Pakistan Supreme Court had highlighted that it was the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the government’s duty to ensure that the public was facilitated in expressing its will through a “genuine election”, adding that it was also bound to ensure that there was no perception of oppression or repression against one political party while others were treated favourably.

Mentioning these remarks, Justice Aurangzeb of Islamabad High Court said, “A terrible system is being run under the interim government where even consultation on elections is not allowed,” he remarked, asking if the caretakers wanted to “derail the polls”.

Subsequently, the court allowed PTI lawyers, including Chairman Gohar Khan, to hold consultations with Khan in jail.

“Permission for consultations on polls is a fundamental right,” Justice Aurangzeb said, stressing that the caretaker government should be “neutral” during elections.

“Opposing meetings between the PTI chairman and Imran (Khan) raises questions on the neutrality of the interim set-up,” the judge added.