Islamabad:
A Supreme Court Bench has erected to hear the appeals filed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan against dismissal of his guarantee applications in the 9th of May rebel cases by Lahore High Court (LHC).
A division bench consisting of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJ) Yahya Afridi and Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui will take the appeals – eight in total – at. 9:30 pm today (Tuesday).
A Division Bench by LHC led by Justice Shahbaz Ali Rizvi on June 24 found that Imran was allegedly involved in the conspiracy to attack military installations in the event of his arrest – a conspiracy claimed by the government was executed after the arrest of the PTI founder on May 9, 2023.
Imran Khan approached the Apex Court on July 26 against the LHC announcement and claimed that the prosecution adopted three different attitudes to connect him with the alleged conspiracy of May 9, 2023 rebel events, all of which were rejected by different courts.
In comments on the order, the petition said the prosecution repeatedly failed to establish any credible Nexus between Imran Khan and the alleged event as told in FIR.
According to the petition, the prosecution resorted to his attempts to connect the petitioner with the alleged conspiracy actions and monkey to three contradictory versions, each of which was different in terms of the alleged date, time, location and witnesses of monkey.
It said all three versions have become legally unbelieved either by the anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) or by LHC. It noted that the prosecutor’s office under procedures for bail before the occasion of ATC-III in Lahore claimed the prosecution of late that a police officer, Hassam Afzal, allegedly overheard a conspiracy in Zaman Park.
It claimed that this event happened two days before May 9 – on May 7th. The Prosecutor
“However, this version was discredited because of the prosecutor’s failure to justify the delayed disclosure of such critical information and was therefore rejected by the learned special judge ATC-III in Lahore, which confirmed the petitioner’s pre-formation of at March 1, 2024 in FIR No. 366/23 and 1078/23.”
The petition said the prosecution after the collapse of his first narrative highlighted another version during the consultation of criminal revision before LHC, claiming that Imran Khan allegedly encouraged the actions through media statements.
However, the Settlement Manager could not produce any critical or criminal material to substantiate this claim, causing LHC to reject this version as well.
Then the state tried to rely on statements from three new witnesses – including PTI leaders Sadaqat Abbasi and Wasiq Qayyum – as fresh proof of supporting its third version of the conspiracy.
“Also, this last attempt was found missing and became explicitly unbelievers by ATC-I, Rawalpindi, which derived the Co-accused Bushra Imran through a well-founded order dated 20.08.2024.
“The prosecutor’s continued non -compliance with coherent, consistent and credible evidence, after more possibilities clearly bring the case within the field for further investigations, making the county entitled to admit bail after the occasion according to section 497 (2) CRPC 1898,” said.
The petition stated that despite the rejection of all three prosecutors of various competent forums, LHC rejected IMRAN’s bail on June 24, while he relying solely on the statements of the two police officers – Inspector Asmat Kamal and Asi Hassam Afzal.
