IHC orders lawyer Salman Safdar’s meeting with Imran Khan today

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday directed jail authorities to arrange a meeting between incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his counsel Barrister Salman Safdar at 2pm today (Wednesday).

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif issued the directives while hearing petitions related to the £190 million case and suspension of sentences of Khan and Bushra Bibi.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) special prosecutors Javed Ashraf and Rafi Maqsood appeared before the court, while Barrister Safdar represented the PTI founder.

The directives followed the court’s earlier decision in February to appoint Barrister Safdar as a “friend of the court”. After his visit, he reported that the PTI chairman had complained of losing 85% of the vision in his right eye.

At the outset of the hearing on Tuesday, the court was informed that the hearing could not take place a day earlier due to the bench’s unavailability.

The proceedings resumed with both the main petitions and related miscellaneous applications taken up together, including requests for early hearing of Bushra Bibi’s plea and facilitation of a lawyer-client meeting.

During the hearing, Safdar referred to a court order issued on March 31. The chief justice inquired about the nature of the miscellaneous application, to which the counsel requested permission to meet his client.

The bench approved the request, directing jail authorities to arrange the meeting.

“You may go and meet the PTI founder,” the chief justice remarked, asking the counsel to specify a suitable time. Safdar proposed 2pm, which the court accepted, issuing formal orders for the meeting to take place accordingly.

Barrister Safdar also requested the court to hear applications for suspension of the sentences. Chief Justice Dogar responded while saying, “Go to jail and meet your client; we can fix the appeal schedule thereafter”.

“We can schedule the appeals for two days every week, so you may meet your client first.”

The defence lawyer said he preferred to meet the clients in jail first before assisting the court with the appeals. He also requested that a decision be made regarding Bushra’s sentence suspension at the earliest.

“As far as the lady is concerned, you may decide on the sentence suspension application,” he requested.

The chief justice hinted at expediting the appeals, saying that once arguments begin, “we will decide the appeals within seven days, God willing.” Monitoring Desk