Court issues notice to interior secretary, attorney general.
ISLAMABAD – The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday issued notice to interior secretary in a petition seeking contempt of court proceedings against Punjab home secretary and superintendent Adiala Jail for not holding meeting with Imran Khan. Besides this, the bench also issued notices to the Attorney General’s office and directed the jail superintendent to appear before the court on Friday (today).
A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan conducted hearing of the petition moved by PTI lawyer Faisal Fareed a lawyer of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) who moved the court seeking contempt of court proceedings against Home Secretary Punjab and Superintendent Adiala Jail for not allowing them to meet with Imran Khan. Earlier, the IHC bench ordered that Imran be produced before the court by 3pm, and be allowed to have a virtual meeting with his lawyers there. However, it transpired later that three lawyers of PTI were told to come to Adiala Jail to meet him there. Faisal Chaudhary Advocate told the court that Salman Akram Raja, Shoaib Shaheen and he were asked to visit [Adiala] jail for a meeting.
On the onset of the hearing, Adiala Jail Superintendent Ghafoor Anjum appeared before the court on its orders, along with the additional attorney general and state counsel. Referring to the ban on prisoner meetings, Justice Ishaq asked, “Are you saying that the government can stop the process of providing justice with a single notification”? The state counsel replied that since court hearings had not been taking place, Imran’s meetings had not been arranged either.
The judge noted that the petitioner had argued that a court order had been violated via a notification. He added that he was not saying whether the notification was correct or not; they will have to file a separate petition for that matter. He also said that however, denying a meeting despite court orders was violation of court orders. At this, the state counsel informed the court about the ban on prisoner meetings by the Punjab government based on a law and order situation. The bench asked that had meetings with lawyers also been banned? He said those who issued the notification also committed contempt of court. He added that if the Punjab government barred lawyers’ meetings then it was contempt of court.
Justice Ishaq said that the interior ministry should submit a report detailing what the security reasons were. The petitioner’s counsel informed the court that no lawyer has been allowed meetings at Adiala Jail since October 3. The court questioned what the results would be if this was not genuine. He said that he will ask on camera those who wrote the letters and will put his hand on the Quran and ask whether they will give an affidavit and this was really the position. Justice Ishaq then, ordered the jail authorities to produce Imran in the court by 3pm, and arrange his meeting with his lawyers at the court. Along with summoning the interior ministry’s joint secretary along with relevant records, the judge also issued notices seeking judicial assistance from Attorney-General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan. The judge remarked that he is aware that you will not implement court orders and added that the court would be accorded respect if Imran was presented in court.
Addressing the jail authorities, the judge ordered that you should make necessary security arrangements and present the PTI founder in court. He emphasized that if you cannot do so, you must inform the court tomorrow about the reasons.
He said that you must satisfy the court about the security threat due to which you might not present him.
Later, in his written order, Justice Ishaq ordered to issue notice to the Secretary, Ministry of Interior, “to depute a knowledgeable officer to bring the record pertaining to the security threat received by the Ministry, which led to the Government of Punjab issuing notifications preventing the petitioner’s counsels from meeting him.”
Separately, a single bench of IHC comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb issued orderes for formation of medical board for Imran.
The IHC said that that security measures put in place cannot be a valid obstacle for access to well-qualified doctors to examine prisoners.
A written order issued by Justice Miangul Hassan said that “the Executive Director, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) shall constitute a medical board which shall include one doctor from the private sector namely, Dr Faisal Sultan, to medically examine the petitioner and thereafter submit a report to the registrar of this court.”
In the petition, Imran sought to be medically examined by Dr Sultan, Dr Asim Yusaf, and Dr Samina Niazi on a fortnightly basis and to allow him such medical treatment as recommended by these doctors.
