Salman Akram Raja says Islamabad High Court has become a closed door for PTI founder’s legal team
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi addresses a video message on January 27, 2026. SCREENGRAB
ISLAMABAD:
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Wednesday tried to address the lectern of the Chief Justice of Pakistan Sarfraz Dogar’s court, but the Chief Justice left for his chambers without hearing him.
Addressing the media outside the court, Afridi said that since a meeting with Dogar had not been possible through other channels, he had tried to approach him in open court. He approached the lectern and saluted the Chief Justice, but his salute was not returned. After waiting for an hour and fifteen minutes, the Chief Minister said he did not get so much as a response.
Afridi said the purpose of the visit was to demonstrate that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) does not engage in protest or anarchic politics. “We want to state that after exhausting all options, we are organizing peaceful protests, which is our right,” he said.
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He added that a request for a medical examination of PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan by doctors of Shaukat Khanum Hospital had also been submitted but this application was not granted.
Senior advocate and PTI general secretary Salman Akram Raja, who also addressed the media, said efforts are on to ensure access for Imran’s doctors and family. He said the court had ordered two weekly meetings – one day for lawyers and one for the family – and that when he appeared in court with Afridi, the prison warden was asked to arrange the meeting.
Despite being on the same day, the meeting was never arranged. A contempt of court was subsequently filed, but it was not pursued. When older contempt petitions were eventually heard, Raja said they were thrown out.
When the high court did not take action against the violation of its own order, Raja said the matter was taken to the Supreme Court. Petitions filed for Imran’s medical examination could also not be processed. “Islamabad High Court is a closed door for us,” he said. “Here we can submit petitions, but they are not heard.”
Read more: PTI directs lawmakers to join daily protests outside SC for Imran’s medical check-up
Raja pointed to a separate case related to social media platform X, set for hearing against Imran, in which the court had directed Raja to meet the former prime minister. “I said that without a meeting, how can a reply be filed on behalf of the PTI founder?” he said. He was not allowed to meet Imran, but the court proceeded regardless, ordering that a reply be filed and argued without one.
Raja said that all parties have the right to present their position and that Afridi, as a representative of 45 million people, had decided to appear in court and ask for just that. After the cases were concluded, the Prime Minister tried to speak but the Chief Justice got up and left, the Secretary General noted.
“We will also approach the Supreme Court from here. The case of Imran Khan must be fought by the nation and the people,” Raja said.
Meanwhile, a man was deprived of his mobile phone in the High Court corridor after he recorded a video of KP Chief Minister Afridi.
Police confiscated the mobile phone of a person accompanying the minister to film his departure and deleted the video, according to details. After the video was deleted, the mobile phone was returned to the subject.
