Islamabad:
Chief Justice Yahya Afridi on Wednesday made it clear that the Supreme Court would not allow long -term postponements in bail petitions from PTI founder Imran Khan, who was heard in connection with several cases linked to May 9, 2023 -Vold.
A bench with three members led by Chief Justice Afridi, and including Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb, appealed to Lahore High Court’s (LHC) on June 24, where a bench led by Justice Shahbaz Ali Rizvi had rejected Imran’s guarantee.
During the case, Chief Justice noted that the prosecution should first cross the threshold to determine how LHC’s rejection of the guarantee could be maintained. “We will first hear the prosecution,” he noted.
The hearing began with a helping lawyer informing the bench that the special prosecutor Zulfiqar Naqvi could not be shown due to food poisoning and was currently admitted to a hospital. He requested the case to be postponed until next week.
However, Chief Justice replied that the case would be taken up on Thursday (today). Attorney Salman Safdar, who represented the PTI founder, opposed the queries and urged the right to at least give them the opportunity to argue.
He pointed out that LHC had rejected its client’s guarantee -pleasing in November last year after six months of addiction, where 16 hearings were held and eight different prosecutors were changed. “The prosecution repeatedly sought postponements. We are now tired,” he said.
Chief Justice Afridi assured the defense that the case would not be subjected to unnecessary delays. Attorney Safdar requested that family members to the PTI founder present in court be allowed to tackle the bench.
Chief Justice, however, rejected the request and said, “We will only hear the lawyer. We will not allow family members to speak in court.” The consultation participated in the PTI founders’ sisters together with leaders of the Senior Party. Later, the bench postponed additional procedures until Thursday (today).
In their detailed judgment, LHC’s righteousness had Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi and Justice Tariq Mahmood Bajwa said: “In this view of the case’s argument provided by taught advice for the petitioner (Imran Khan), to the effect that on May 9, 2023, there was no help to him.”
In his detailed judgment, the bench rendered the declarations of two police officers, the prosecution, who claimed to have secretly attended PTI’s meetings, where the party’s founder allegedly gave instructions to other party leaders to attack military installations in the event of his upcoming arrest from IHC.
The bench observed that the witnesses’ statements should not be described as delayed.
It said that the role assigned to the petitioner, clearly from the witnesses’ statements, attracted the provisions of section 120-B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) and 121-A (conspiracy to commit an offense of waging or trying to wage war against the country) in the Pakistani Criminal Code.
The bench found that the declarations of the witnesses Prima Facie reflected that the conspiracy and the monkey for the offenses committed on May 9 were carried out by the petition on May 4 in Chakri Rest Area, Rawalpindi, May 7 and May 9 in Lahore.
