IHC to hear Imran X account plea today

Will take up petition for Bushra's treatment under personal physician

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear today (Monday) a petition seeking closure of former prime minister Imran Khan's X account.

Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir will preside over the hearing. Authorities at Adiala Jail have already submitted their response, while the court has directed the other respondents to file their replies.

Imran Khan's counsel, Salman Akram Raja, is representing him in the matter. The court had earlier permitted Raja to meet Imran for consultation on the case; however, the meeting could not take place despite the court's order.

Separately, the IHC Registrar's Office has assigned a number to a petition filed by Mubashra Khawar Maneka, a daughter of Imran's wife Bushra Bibi, and scheduled it for hearing. In the petition, she has sought access for her mother to a personal physician and requested family visitation rights.

In January, the country's cybercrime watchdog—the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA)—told the IHC that former prime minister Imran Khan refused to cooperate with it regarding investigations into the PTI founder's alleged social media posts from inside a prison.

The NCCIA submitted a report to the IHC which is hearing a petition filed by a citizen, Ghulam Murtaza, seeking the blocking of Imran Khan's X account.

Imran Khan, who has been detained at Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail since September 2023,

regularly makes social media posts particularly on X to criticise the government and the state institutions.