ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has sought permission to call his sons on every Saturday.

Through his counsel Shiraz Ranjha, Mr Khan filed an application with the special court (Official Secrets Act) seeking permission.

The application said the judge on Oct 18, 2023, had ordered the superintendent of Adiala jail to arrange the telephone call of Mr Khan with his sons.

The jail administration in compliance with the order arranged Mr Khan’s call with his sons on Whatsapp on last Saturday, Oct 21.

The superintendent jail however did not arrange a telephonic conversation of Mr Khan with his children on Oct 28, the application said, adding as per the general practice the jail inmates were allowed to make calls to their family members on Saturdays.

It requested the court to issue directions to jail authorities to make arrangements for Mr Khan’s phone calls to his sons on every weekend.

Meanwhile, the PTI has notified a legal team for Imran Khan, which is headed by senior advocate Hamid Khan.

According to a senior member of the team, the list of lawyers was shared in the official group of the PTI. However, it was then ‘leaked’ to the social media.

According to the list, the team comprises Hamid Khan, Barrister Umair Khan Niazi, Barrister Salman Akram Raja, Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, Barrister Salman Safdar, Sardar Latif Khan Khosa, Shoaib Shaheen, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Malik Burhan Moazzam and Sher Afzal Khan Marwat.

Interestingly, the name of senior lawyer Babar Awan is not in the list. Mr Awan represented Mr Khan in a number of cases for the last many years even before formally joining the PTI.

Likewise, the name of advocate Naeem Haider Panjhuta is also not among the members of the legal team.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2023