Opposition demands immediate scheduling of Imran’s cases
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• Leaders protest outside SC, seek ex-PM’s family visits and medical check-up by personal doctors
• Achakzai’s appointment as NA opposition leader challenged in FCC
• PTI alleges ‘black hole’ in govt data to hide PDM-era economic downturn
ISLAMABAD: Opposition leaders protested outside the Supreme Court on Monday, demanding that cases of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan be fixed for early hearing and that he be allowed to meet his family.
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, Chief Whip Amir Dogar, MNAs Ali Muhammad Khan and Shahid Khattak, MPA Shafiullah Jan and Muhammad Hussain took part in the protest, which concluded at around 2pm.
Participants also demanded that a complete medical examination be conducted through Mr Khan’s personal doctors, according to a post on X by the opposition alliance Tehreek Tahafuz-i- Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP).
Nasir Abbas urged the government to take “confidence-building measures”, including allowing Mr Khan’s family members and personal physicians to meet him. “We consider these rulers Form-47 ones, but any talks would still be held with them,” he said.
Speaking to reporters, the PTI secretary general said the party did not trust “any government report”, apparently referring to one submitted to the court by Pims.
“This is not a moment where we organise a movement or hold talks,” Salman Akram Raja said, referring to concerns expressed by Imran’s sister Uzma Khanum about his life. He also said they were unable to meet Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi and would again seek a meeting.
“Not just the PTI founder’s eye but his entire body needs a medical check-up,” he added.
Ali Muhammad Khan also demanded that Mr Khan be shifted to a hospital, saying the former prime minister was “not asking for anything special”. He called for the PTI founder’s transfer to Shifa International Hospital as requested by his personal doctors and family.
Achakzai’s appointment
Meanwhile, PTI founding member Akbar S. Babar on Monday challenged the appointment of Mehmood Khan Achakzai as Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly before the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), arguing that the move violated constitutional and procedural rules.
The petition, filed by Advocate Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui on behalf of Mr Babar, sought to nullify a Jan 16, 2026, notification that confirmed Mr Achakzai to the post. The petitioner argued that the NA speaker had failed to follow a mandatory rule requiring him to independently verify the signatures of lawmakers supporting the nomination. This lack of verification, the petition contended, made the appointment void from the start.
The petition sought an FCC declaration that Rule 39(3) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007, “imposes a mandatory jurisdictional obligation upon the Speaker of the National Assembly to independently verify the authenticity and voluntariness of signatures.” It pleaded that the verification “must be demonstrable on record” and that without it, the notification “should be declared void ab initio.”
Mr Babar requested the FCC to order the NA speaker to begin a new process for selecting the opposition leader “strictly in accordance with Rule 39(3)”.
The petition named the federal government, National Assembly Secretariat, the speaker and Mr Achakzai as respondents.
‘Black hole’ in data
The PTI has alleged a “black hole” in the government’s data timeline, claiming the official survey skipped the critical 2022-2024 period, jumping from 2019 to 2025 and clubbing six years of data together to conceal the economic impact of the first PDM tenure.
In a statement, party’s central information secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said the omission was deliberate, arguing that the government avoided releasing the 2022-2024 figures because their transparent disclosure would have shown that the economy remained stable under the Imran-led PTI government, achieving around six per cent growth despite the Covid-19 pandemic. He said the progress was dismantled after the PTI was removed through what he termed a regime-change “conspiracy”.
Ikram Junaidi also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2026
