ATC declines to summon ministers

An ATC in Rawalpindi on Wednesday rejected a petition filed by former prime minister Imran Khan's sister Aleema Khan seeking the summoning of 21 individuals, including two federal ministers and a provincial minister, as court witnesses in a pending case.

ATC Judge Syed Amjad Ali Shah announced the reserved verdict on Aleema Khan's application, ruling that the proposed witnesses could not be summoned as it would amount to repeating an exercise already undertaken during the trial.

The court observed that 19 prosecution witnesses had been extensively cross-examined during the proceedings. According to the written order, the defence counsel had also conducted lengthy cross-examination regarding video footage and newspaper clippings presented during the trial. The court held that summoning additional witnesses on the same issues would effectively repeat the same exercise and was therefore unnecessary.

Aleema had requested the court to summon 21 individuals including Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari.

The application also sought the appearance of editors and bureau chiefs of various newspapers and television channels. Special Prosecutor Zaheer Shah opposed the application and presented arguments against summoning the proposed court witnesses.

Aleema's counsel, Faisal Malik, had advanced arguments in support of the application during proceedings held last week. After hearing both sides, the court reserved its verdict, which was announced on Wednesday.

Naqvi's 'offer'

PTI founder Imran Khan's sister Aleema Khan on Wednesday said the family rejects Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi's "offer" to facilitate a meeting between Noreen Niazi and the former premier through a fresh application to the jail superintendent.

Speaking to the media outside an anti-terrorism court, Aleema said PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar had conveyed Naqvi's message regarding a possible meeting between Noreen Khan and her brother.

She claimed that submitting a new application to the jail superintendent would have undermined a unanimous ruling of a full bench of the high court, arguing that the jail superintendent was a lower-ranking official compared to the authority of the court's decision.

Aleema said the purpose of the proposal was to arrange a brief meeting between Noreen Khan and the PTI founder before placing him back into prolonged solitary confinement.

"That is why we rejected the application," she said.

According to Aleema, their legal experts had explained them the "authorities' strategy". She said the objective was to ease international pressure by allowing only a short meeting while maintaining existing restrictions on the PTI founder.

She further stated that, under the jail manual, the PTI founder was entitled to constitutional and legal meetings with family members.