ISLAMABAD: In his first-ever letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, PTI Chairman Imran Khan has sought the Supreme Court’s intervention to stop alleged abductions and disappearances of his party workers and journalists sympathetic to it.

The letter also called for action against PTI’s “political victimisation” and sought equal opportunities for the party to carry out an election campaign.

As prime minister in 2019, the PTI chief had approved a presidential reference against then-SC judge Isa over alleged misconduct and non-disclosure of foreign assets.

However, after he was removed from power in 2022, Mr Khan admitted the reference was a “mistake” and he “should not have unnecessarily confronted the judiciary”.

Ex-premier points to ‘disappearances’, arrests of party women; terms it attempt to skew country’s political landscape

In his letter, the PTI chairman emphasised the need to uphold Article 184(3) of the Constitution, which safeguards the “right to liberty, to associate, assemble, and speak”.

Mr Khan urged the court to set up a commission to probe alleged abductions and disappearances of PTI’s workers and journalists.

“These disappearances or abductions, quite apart from the arbitrary arrests, have spread fear through society and are a grotesque affront to the claim that Pakistan is a country ruled by a constitution and a set of laws,” the letter noted.

“Today, the power to prosecute and arrest is being used in a blatant attempt to engineer and skew the political landscape of the country.”

Mr Khan added that the large number of women arrested in Lahore was a “tragic indictment of law enforcement”.

Those women, the PTI chief claimed, remained imprisoned for six months and were rearrested whenever they were granted bail in one case.

“Those bailed out by the courts in one or more cases are immediately booked in further cases that purport to pertain to events several months in the past. Often several FIRs are registered against persons affiliated with the PTI with respect to the same event. The same persons are also implicated in successive FIRs with respect to different and unrelated events all across the country.”

The Supreme Court cannot remain unaware of these “disappearances of individuals affiliated with the PTI or those connected with the government led by the PTI between August 2018 and April 2022”, the letter said, adding that those who returned “made press conferences that are clearly tutored”.

“Is this a phenomenon that the apex court can look away from in good conscience?”

He added that without the court’s intervention to stop these “widespread arrests and abductions”, fair general elections would not be possible on February 8.

Remedies

The PTI chief urged the court to treat his letter as a petition under Article 184(3) of the Constitution and sought orders to stop the practice of successive arrests.

Any accused should only be arrested in a new case after allowing them “the opportunity to approach a court of competent jurisdiction for pre-arrest bail,” Mr Khan urged in the letter.

He also sought directives for the federal government and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority to allow all political parties and their leaders to appear in media without discrimination.

All political parties, including the PTI, should be allowed “coverage without any restriction or discrimination”.

“The federal government and the provincial governments as well as the Election Commission of Pakistan, may kindly be directed to ensure that persons affiliated with all political parties, including the PTI, are allowed to carry out political meetings and gatherings without discrimination between one party and any other,” Mr Khan wrote.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2023