A three-member larger bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday restored the two days of weekly visits to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan but banned the media talks by the visitors after the meeting.
The bench, led by Acting Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar and including Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan, said that only those persons could meet Imran whose names would be given by the PTI founder's coordinator Salman Akram Raja.
However, the IHC order, instead of settling the matter, created a disagreement among the PTI lawyers, as Faisal Chaudhry opposed the ban on the media talk, and announced to challenge the order in apex court. He termed the order a breach of the right to freedom of speech.
The larger bench heard the clubbed petitions related to the visits to the PTI founder. The lawyers for the petitioners' said that the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the prison visits were set in an intra-court appeal, which stated that the family would meet him on Tuesdays and friends on Thursdays.
However, they added, the Thursday meetings had been stopped since December. Naveed Malik Advocate, the lawyer for the Adiala Jail superintendent, said that the SOPs were followed till December, until Imran's status changed to a convicted prisoner in January.
"Since January, we have been allowing meetings with the PTI founder on Tuesdays as per the Jail Manual, he added. To a court query, Malik added that because of security threats, two meetings were being allowed on Tuesday, instead of on two separate days. "It's difficult to manage two days a week."
Malik argued that the jail rules gave the authority to the Adiala Jail superintendent to schedule the meetings. On that Salman Akram Raja, the coordinator for the PTI founder, requested the bench to restore the two weekly meetings.
Acting Chief Justice Dogar stated that more than 100 petitions for jail meetings had been filed and about 98 had been disposed of. He added that he wanted the larger bench to settle the matter once, and for all.
The acting chief justice pointed out that the visitors used the jail meetings for political purposes as they make political statements just after coming out of the jail after the meetings. What was the need for the media talks, the acting chief justice asked.
Later, the court ordered that the PTI founder would have two days of meetings every week. The court further ordered that the names given by the PTI founder's coordinator Salman Akram Raja would be able to meet him, and those having the meeting would not talk to the media after the meeting.
Raja assured the court that he would not talk to the media after the jail meetings with the PTI founder. The three-member bench also ordered that application could be filed with the trial court for the PTI founder's meeting with his children.
Later, PTI lawyer took to the microblogging website of Twitter, announcing that he would challenge IHC decision. He said that no court could restrict the right to speech of Imran Khan, his family or any other person. He added that IHC order was a clear violation of the Constitution and the law.
He also criticised Raja for giving the assurances for no media talks after the meetings. "No person has the right to give such a guarantee on behalf of all that Imran Khan's message cannot reach the public. Any such order will not be acceptable to us," he added.
Later, talking to The Express Tribune, Faisal Chaudhry Advocate said that it was highly unfair to place a blanket ban on the fundamental right to freedom of speech. He vowed to challenge the order because it was a violation of the law and the Constitution.
Disagreeing with statement of Raja, he said that it could not be taken as a commitment on behalf of all the PTI lawyers. "It's against the law and propriety to put a blanket ban on the message Imran Khan, who is a former prime minister and the leader of the largest political party of Pakistan," he added.
However, Raja, in his media talk, explained that the ban on the media talk was only on the friends. The friends, who would meet Imran would not engage in political discussion after the meeting with Imran, he said. "The jail authorities said that there is a risk of instability from the media talk of the friends."
Raja said that meeting with lawyers, friends and family was the PTI founder's right and the court made it clear that two meetings would be held on a weekly basis. "We will now give a list of the people for meetings with Imran Khan," he said.
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