ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan wants Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq to “recuse himself” from all benches hearing cases aga­­inst him, expressing “deep loss of faith” in his court.

Mr Khan filed an application seeking transfer of cases before the IHC through his counsel Sardar Latif Khan Khosa.

According to the petition, Justice Farooq hears almost all cases against him.

It said Justice Farooq validated Mr Khan’s arrest on May 9, and later endor­sed his jail trial. It alleged the chief justice dela­yed disposing of the petition against Mr Khan’s disqualification in the Toshakh­a­­na case that led to the filing of a complaint by the ECP before a sessions judge. Sub­se­quen­tly, the trial court convic­ted Mr Khan in the case in a hasty manner.

The petition further alleged that the IHC chief justice removed the incomplete judgement in the Tyrian White case from the website, held back the release of the majority judgement and issued a press release through registrar, claiming that the bench had already been dissolved and the matter would be heard afresh.

The ex-premier had earlier moved a similar petition before the high court seeking transfer of his cases from the court of the chief justice for allegedly having “deep and settled bias”, though the IHC record shows Justice Farooq granted relief to Mr Khan in over 35 of his 40 petitions since May.

On May 14, Justice Farooq issued a stay order against the proceeding of the Toshakhana case, which was reversed in July. He over­­ruled the administrative objections raised by the registrar’s office to 16 petitions seeking transit­o­­ry bail and granted him bail even twice in the same FIRs. He granted bail to Mr Khan in all these cases against nominal surety bonds.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2023