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A breakthrough of sorts in Imran Khan’s legal cases was attained yesterday as Supreme Court allowed PTI counsel, Salman Safdar, to meet the incarcerated former PM. This development has come after a long hiatus and severe political somersaults, as the family and lawyers have been denied an audience with the PTI founder. The secrecy around the eye surgery of the jailed leader reportedly carried out at PIMS had stirred concerns about his well-being, prompting party leaders and lawyers to approach the apex court.
Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, declaring Safdar as amicus curiae, or the friend of court, and granting him unhindered access to Khan will surely come as relief for the party. It will also turn a new page in confidence building with an opposition pushed to the wall, restlessly planning a street movement. The top court has, however, exercised restraint, for reasons best known to the lords, by limiting the audience and probe to Khan’s “living conditions only”.
The order could have done some great justice to the PTI, and a nation reeling under abject political instability, if the family and political associates had been allowed a ‘thorough discussion’ with the fromer PM. For the last more than two months, family, lawyers and party leaders, including the K-P chief minister, had been camping outside Adiala Jail every Tuesday, expecting that the Islamabad High Court order would be abided by with a due lawful meeting. The CJP apparently played safe by keeping the ‘meeting’ apolitical, besides refraining from venturing into the executive domain.
This ice-melting exercise has come a day after the February 8 shutter-down strike called by the opposition, and the Supreme Court taking up a plethora of cases pending an appeal pertaining to relief for Khan. Likewise, a visible rapprochement was evident last week following a meeting between the K-P CM and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. All that is desired is that the judiciary must see to it that lawful relief is entertained, and political prisoners are offered a sigh of relief and, subsequently, released.
