IHC to take action against jail hindrances
PHOTO: FILE
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has warned that it will immediately initiate contempt proceedings against the Adiala Jail superintendent and other respondents if obstacles are placed in meetings between former prime minister Imran Khan and his legal advisers.
In its written order for the courts proceedings on a petition filed by the PTI, the IHC expressed its dismay over the obstacles of rather petty kind placed in the way of meetings between Imran, who is currently detained at Rawalpindis Adiala Jail, and his lawyer.
[It is learnt] for instance, [that jail authorities are] making the legal advisors walk for miles before reaching the jail, placing glass barriers during their interviews, and placing police officers or others within earshot when the interviews took place.
The judge, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, warned the Islamabad advocate general (AG) and the jail superintendent that such obstacles in the way of the petitioners right to consult his legal advisors will not be tolerated.
This court will immediately initiate proceedings in contempt if any similar incident is reported again. No formal show cause notice would then be required and this order today will be treated as the formal show cause notice for the said purposes.
If such an event is reported again, the respondents would automatically file their reply without a direction, which would be treated as their reply in contempt proceedings, he noted.
The court, however, agreed with the stance of the jail authorities that the standard operating procedures (SOPs) ought to be respected as long as they are in force, and the shuffling across of the meeting days between the lawyers and non-lawyers can very well be administratively challenging for the jail authorities and, therefore, the petitioners have to observe those SOPs.
The court later adjourned till September 13.
Meanwhile, the PTI approached the IHC against the closure of its official website and PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub and Shibli Faraz submitted a petition for the restoration of the website.
The Registrars Office has raised objections to the petition which IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq will hear along with the petition today (Tuesday).
The petition names the federal government through the secretary information, the chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), and the secretary interior as respondents.
It states that the PTI is a major political party and its official website, insaf.pk, was established in the early 2000s to keep the public informed about the activities of the party.
The official website was blocked ahead of the recent general elections. The website contains the partys manifesto, profiles of party leaders, and links for donations.