ISLAMABAD:
Chief Justice Yahya Afridi on Wednesday made it clear that the Supreme Court would not allow prolonged adjournments in the bail petitions of PTI founder Imran Khan, being heard in connection with multiple cases linked to the May 9, 2023 violence.
A three-member bench led by Chief Justice Afridi, and including Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb, took up appeals against the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) June 24 decision, in which a bench led by Justice Shahbaz Ali Rizvi had dismissed Imran’s bail applications.
During the proceedings, the chief justice observed that the prosecution would first have to cross the threshold of establishing how the LHC’s rejection of the bail could be sustained. “We will hear the prosecution first,” he remarked.
The hearing began with an assisting counsel informing the bench that Special Prosecutor Zulfiqar Naqvi could not appear due to food poisoning and was currently admitted to a hospital. He requested the matter be adjourned until next week.
The chief justice, however, responded that the matter would be taken up on Thursday (today). Advocate Salman Safdar, representing the PTI founder, objected to the adjournment request and urged the court to at least allow them to argue.
He pointed out that the LHC had dismissed his client’s bail plea in November last year after six months of pendency, during which 16 hearings were held and eight different prosecutors were changed. “The prosecution repeatedly sought adjournments. We are now fed up,” he said.
Chief Justice Afridi assured the defence that the matter would not be subjected to unnecessary delays. Advocate Safdar requested that family members of the PTI founder, who were present in court, be allowed to address the bench.
However, the chief justice declined the request, stating: “We will only hear the lawyer. We will not allow family members to speak in court.” The hearing was attended by the PTI founder’s sisters along with senior party leaders. Later, the bench adjourned further proceedings until Thursday (today).
In their detailed verdict, LHC’s Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi and Justice Tariq Mahmood Bajwa had said: “In this view of the matter argument furnished by learned counsel for the petitioner (Imran Khan) to the effect that on May 9, 2023, the petitioner was in jail is of no help to him.”
In its detailed verdict, the bench reproduced the statements of two police officials, the prosecution witnesses, who claimed to have secretly attended the meetings of the PTI wherein the party’s founder allegedly gave instructions to other party leaders to attack military installations in case of his imminent arrest from the IHC.
The bench observed that the statements of the witnesses were not to be termed as belated.
It said the role assigned to the petitioner, evident from the statements of the witnesses, attracted the provisions of Section 120-B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) and 121-A (conspiracy to commit offence of waging or attempting to wage war against the country) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The bench held that the statements of the witnesses prima facie reflected that the conspiracy and abetment for the offences committed on May 9 were perpetrated by the petitioner on May 4 at Chakri rest area, Rawalpindi, on May 7 and on May 9 at Lahore.