ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan, the leader of the PTI, has accused IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq of “deep and settled bias” and asked the Supreme Court to move all of his cases from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to some provincial high courts.
In a plea filed with the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the former prime minister said that he is being held in Attock jail because he was “convicted on a cooked up and fabricated charge after a ‘trial’ in gross abuse of due process.” Imran said that this “injustice” was mostly the fault of the IHC top justice.
“More than enough unarguable evidence is available to establish the CJ IHC’s deep and settled bias against the petitioner,” the application said. It accused him of “doing everything he could to keep the petitioner in jail so he wouldn’t be able to run in the upcoming general elections and be kicked out of Pakistani politics.”
Imran also said that Humayun Dilawar, an Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) in Islamabad, “disliked” him. He said that CJ Farooq found in the local judge “a ready and willing instrument” to help them reach their shared goal.
In a case called “Toshakhana,” which happened on August 5, Judge Dilawar gave the former PM three years in jail.
“In fact, the honorable CJ IHC gave the learned ASJ a big bonus after their joint goal of getting the petitioner convicted illegally had been reached,” he said.
The petitioner also disagreed with Judge Dilawar’s decision in the gift store and pointed out that “the learned CJ IHC has shown his bias and prejudice against the petitioner” in different cases.
Imran said that the IHC chief justice waited too long to announce the decision in the infidelity case and didn’t stop the paramilitary rangers from beating the petitioner when they took him away from the courthouse on May 9.
“He (Justice Farooq) made it possible for people all over the country to see the disturbing pictures. He later said that the petitioner’s arrest was legal and done in a legal way.
“The Supreme Court found something different. But too many people, including the petitioner, are sure that the whole story was played out according to the script, in which the learned CJ IHC played a big role. “How can the petitioner expect him to do what’s right?” he asked.
Imran asked the Supreme Court to “transfer all cases, investigations, inquiries, and trials in which the petitioner is a party, respondent, or accused from the IHC to the Lahore High Court or the Peshawar High Court” and to stop the IHC from continuing with the same trials/proceedings in the meantime.
The head of the PTI had also said in the past that he didn’t trust the judges handling the gift repository case, which included CJ Farooq.
He had asked the IHC chief justice not to hear the high-profile case and to send it to a different court.
