Rawalpindi:
A Rawalpindi court on Monday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan’s plea for weekly WhatsApp calls with his sons, ARY News reported.
Notably, Imran Khan had filed a petition seeking permission to talk to his sons on WhatsApp once a week.
However, prison authorities argued that there was no legal provision allowing prisoners to contact their relatives through WhatsApp. According to ARY News, the court had previously said it had allowed Imran to speak to his children, who currently live in the UK with their mother, Jemima Khan, twice a month.
Earlier, the former Pakistani prime minister had filed a petition in the Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) after he was denied access to talk to his sons over the phone in Adiala Jail. In his petition, the PTI founder had alleged that he was denied access to talk to his sons despite being allowed to do so by law.
The ATC, headed by Justice Malik Aijaz Asif, has sought a response from the prison authorities, ARY News reported.
Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism court the previous day reserved its decision on Imran Khan’s interim bail plea in cases related to the May 9, 2023 incident, including the Jinnah House incident and two other cases, Pakistan’s Express Tribune reported.
During the hearing on Saturday, Imran’s lawyer Salman Safdar argued that the PTI founder was being targeted for political reasons.
“In my career, I have never seen so many cases filed against one individual. Those who were on the ground actually agitating against the organisation were not arrested,” Safdar alleged. “How could a case be filed against him when he was in custody at the time of the crime?” asked the PTI leader’s lawyer.
In response, government lawyers argued that a Special Investigation Agency report showed Imran Khan had asked his supporters to attack civilian and military installations if he was arrested. “The directive to attack military installations across Pakistan triggered this attack,” the prosecutor said. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court reserved its verdict on the PTI founder’s interim bail plea, according to The Express Tribune.
Violent clashes broke out across Pakistan following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 9 last year. Khan’s arrest upset party members, leading to protests in remote areas and major cities, and leading to the deployment of the army in Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad to maintain security, ARY News reported.
During the protests by PTI workers, military installations including the Corps Commander’s residence in Lahore were attacked. Notably, the PTI founder was named as the prime suspect in all the incidents of the May 9 riots.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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