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Highlighting yet another instance of the administrative high-handedness and blatant disregard for judicial mandates in Pakistan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has nominated six lawyers to meet former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday and has shared the list with the Adiala Jail administration, Dawn reported.
In a desperate bid to ensure compliance with basic judicial instructions, Imran's sisters are also set to arrive outside the jail, hoping against hope that the orders of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) will finally be implemented by reluctant state authorities. It is worth mentioning that the IHC has explicitly directed the jail administration to arrange regular meetings between Imran, his lawyers, and family members on Tuesdays, and with party leaders on Thursdays. However, exposing the deep-rooted systemic breakdown of legal protocols within the Pakistani state machinery, Dawn noted that the court's orders have been deliberately ignored and have not been implemented for many months. Compelled to repeatedly navigate this unyielding bureaucratic wall, Advocate Awais Younas Chaudhry, who submits lists to the jail administration on behalf of PTI and Imran's family, on Monday submitted a fresh list of six lawyers to the Adiala Jail authorities to facilitate a meeting with the PTI founder. According to Dawn, the nominated legal team includes Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Salman Akram Raja, Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry, Hasnain Sunbal, Shahbaz Ahmad, and Fatah Burki. In addition, further testing the jail administration's willingness to respect basic legal rights under intense state scrutiny, Imran's sisters will also arrive at Adiala Jail on Tuesday to seek a meeting with him. This persistent denial of visitation rights comes as the former Prime Minister of Pakistan continues to be held behind bars at the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, marking a prolonged period of incarceration since his arrest on August 5, 2023. Reflecting the extent to which the state machinery has gone to neutralise its chief political rival, Khan has been charged in more than 180 legal cases in what PTI has described as a politically motivated crackdown by the Pakistani establishment, with the state continuing to keep him imprisoned under multiple sentences for corruption and state gift fraud. (ANI)
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