‘Duty of Supreme Court of Pakistan to intervene,’ Imran Khan to Chief Justice

In a letter addressed to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Aminuddin, Khan highlighted the alleged human rights violations, electoral fraud, and the arrests of his party workers

Islamabad: Ahead of his party’s planned protest on February 8, jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has urged the Supreme Court to exercise its constitutional authority to safeguard the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan.

In a letter addressed to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Aminuddin, Imran Khan highlighted the alleged human rights violations, electoral fraud, and the arrests of his party workers.

The lengthy 349-page letter includes reports detailing allegations of rights violation, particularly around November 26, 2024 when his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had staged a violent protest in Islamabad and other parts of the country, reported The Express Tribune.

“When all organs and agencies of the state that are mandated by the law to exercise power to safeguard life, liberty and democracy stand subjugated by brute force and are acting in aid of persecution and fraud, it is the duty of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to intervene,” Khan, said in his letters.

The letter was shared on Khan’s official X handle late on Friday night.

Khan, 72, has been lodged at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since mid-2023 in multiple cases and his party has been at loggerheads with the federal government since the general elections in February 2024.

His party, PTI, has already declared that it would observe February 8, when elections were held last year, as a ‘Black Day’ to protest the alleged stolen mandate.

Khan, in his letter, stated that between November 24 and 27 last year, a large number of PTI workers were arrested and alleged that hospital records were sealed and later altered to manipulate facts.

He criticised the judiciary for failing to provide justice despite repeated petitions against election fraud and ongoing human rights violations over the past 18 months and claimed that PTI workers were subjected to forced disappearances, injuries, and extrajudicial killings.

“The current government came into power through electoral fraud and historic rigging,” he wrote. “This unconstitutional regime has inflicted severe oppression on PTI, demolishing our offices and subjecting our leaders to brutal torture.” Khan also mentioned his controversial May 9, 2023 arrest, stating that he was unlawfully detained from the premises of the Islamabad High Court. He accused authorities of deliberately broadcasting the arrest on television and social media to provoke public outrage.

“When I approached the Islamabad High Court to seek relief against state repression, I was attacked. The Supreme Court later declared the entire operation illegal,” Khan wrote.

He further alleged that peaceful demonstrations to protest his arrest were hijacked by infiltrators who incited violence to discredit PTI’s demonstrations, reported the paper.

Khan has regularly highlighted the alleged arrests of his party workers who protested on different occasions last year. This latest letter comes when his party is preparing to stage protests on February 8 to mark one year of election, which the party has termed as rigged.

It is not clear if the PTI would get permission to hold a rally in Lahore on February 8, but it is likely to hold rallies in Swabi and Peshawar regions of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa because it is in power in the province.

The decision to hold rallies comes as the dialogue with the government broke down after the party's demand to set up judicial commissions to probe the incidents of May 9, 2023 and November 26, 2024 were not met.

The talks began on December 23 last year and the PTI handed over its charter of demands to the government during the third round held on January 17. The key demand was to set up two judicial commissions within seven days and release PTI prisoners.

The government took its time to prepare a response and asked the PTI for a meeting on January 28, but it refused to join the process after Khan directed that the talks would be further pursued only if the probe commissions were set up.

PTI's efforts last year to force the government to accept its demands backfired and more cases were registered against the party leaders, including Khan, whose wife Bushra Bibi was arrested this month after conviction in a corruption case. Bibi had led the protest on November 26 last year.