Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has invoked the case of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal getting bail to campaign ahead of India’s general elections, as he complained before the Supreme Court about the mistreatment meted to him in jail. During his appearance on Thursday before a five-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa in a case related to amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman complained of the “victimisation” that he faced since his ouster from power in April 2022.
Justices Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Athar Minallah, and Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi also sat on the bench. Justice Minallah remarked that it was unfortunate that Khan was in jail as he was the head of a large party with millions of followers.
Khan, complaining of oppression against him, pointed out that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was released on bail by the apex court ahead of the Indian general elections for campaigning for his party but he was facing oppression in Pakistan which was under undeclared “martial law”.
Khan,71, complained that he was convicted within five days to keep him away from the general elections which were held on February 8. Khan also expressed dismay over the Supreme Court’s judgment rejecting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s government plea requesting the live streaming of the case.
“You wrote [in the judgment] that I did political point scoring during the last hearing. I did not get it, what political scoring did I resort to,” the PTI founder asked the CJP Isa. At this, Chief Justice Isa said a judge does not owe an explanation to anyone over the verdict. “You can file a review petition,” the top judge said.
He also asked the former premier to speak only about the pending matter before the court. Lamenting political victimisation, the PTI founder said the Supreme Court should appoint a chairman for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the anti-corruption watchdog.
“When the Opposition and government fail to evolve consensus on the name of NAB chairman appointment then a ‘third umpire’ makes the decision,” he said, adding that the anti-graft body is working under the “third umpire”. Addressing the PTI founder, Justice Minallah said: “Khan sahib, there was no reason to declare the NAB amendments invalid.”
Khan said he was currently facing NAB inquiries and called for improvement in the anti-corruption body.
After Justice Minallah reminded Khan about the issue of the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner, he said restoring the amendment would help him in the NAB cases, however, the country “will become bankrupt”.
CJP Isa also barred the PTI founder from citing Islamabad High Court (IHC) verdict in the cipher cases and said the appeal in the case might be filed in the apex court.
“Why did not you oppose the NAB amendments in Parliament,” asked Justice Rizvi. Khan cited the circumstances and said his government was toppled via conspiracy and that he did not want to respond to the “conspiratorial government” in Parliament.
Khan also asked the court to compare the facilities given to him in jail with the facilities given to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. However, in a lighter vein, Justice Mandokhel said the elder Sharif was not in jail at the moment, “Do you want us to send him to jail?” The chief justice remarked the court would arrange a surprise visit by the judicial officer.
