LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday sustained an office objection to a petition of PTI former chairman Imran Khan against a decision of the Punjab government to prosecute him and other leaders of his party on charges of involvement in the May 9 riots.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Farooq Haider took up the petition as an objection case.

The LHC registrar office objected to unavailability of the necessary documents, including a copy of the cabinet decision challenged in the petition.

PTI MNA Advocate Sardar Latif Khan Khosa appeared before the court and stated that the government had not provided them with the copy of the cabinet decision.

However, the bench sustained the objection with a direction to the registrar office to fix the petition for hearing after the provision of the necessary documents by the petitioner.

Last week, the Punjab cabinet had approved fresh legal action against the former prime minister and other PTI leaders for ‘building a hate-narrative against state institutions’.

According to Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari, Mr Khan had constantly been building a narrative against state institutions, which was why the provincial cabinet had decided to take action.

In his petition, the incarcerated former prime minister pleaded that the federal and Punjab governments are scared of him and sensing his release from the false cases. He said both governments wanted to implicate him in fake cases.

Mr Khan pointed out that on May 24, the Punjab cabinet approved the nomination of PTI leaders in additional cases. The decision was made in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of his arch rival Nawaz Sharif, he added.

He asked the court to set aside the impugned decision by the Punjab cabinet for being illegal, without jurisdiction, mala fide and of no legal consequence.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2024