Islamabad/Lahore:
Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s petition seeking the dismissal of 121 cases registered against him has been fixed for hearing before the Lahore High Court (LHC) for Monday, reported Dawn.
The petition will be heard by a two-member bench presided over by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi.
Khan and the PTI were both listed as petitioners in the plea, a copy of which is available at Dawn. According to the plea, the government was “misusing” the legal system to prevent the PTI leader from running in the upcoming elections.
The PTI chairman has claimed that more than 100 cases have been filed against him on numerous occasions. He informed the LHC of the same, on March 24, while requesting protective bail in five instances brought against him in Islamabad.
Khan was to be “eliminated from the political arena by any means necessary” and the “patently mala fide” goal of the “false charges” was to “disqualify, arrest, or convict” him, according to the plea.
A major political party’s constitutionally protected rights to “life and liberty, fair trials, dignity and privacy of home, movement, assembly, association, speech, and equal treatment” were allegedly violated by the “extraordinary nature of the attack” on fundamental rights, according to the petition.
The criminal charges brought against Khan were described as “one of a whole host of tools of persecution designed to silence him, suppress his support, and deny his fundamental rights,” the statement read.
Khan and the PTI were cited in the appeal as the current administration’s electoral adversaries, and it was claimed that “there is no doubt that the state machinery […] is out to completely stall the public life and personal liberty” of the PTI leader.
Additionally, it stated that while Imran’s right to a fair trial and the ability to defend himself was guaranteed by the Constitution, such rights were restricted when Imran was “overwhelmed” with cases and had his requests for hearing consolidation denied, as per a report published in Dawn.
The petition also claimed that Imran Khan, the PTI, and the party’s supporters were being denied the opportunity to exercise their right to run for office and that their freedom of speech was being restricted.
It claimed that the petitioners were “targeted and hounded with the entire might of the state,” while their political adversaries were able to hold public demonstrations and receive media attention.
Additionally, it urged the court to order the respondents to submit a thorough report detailing the many FIRs and criminal cases brought against the petitioners and to order that no coercive measures be taken against them until a decision was taken on the petition.
The petitioners further requested that the court rule that the respondents’ actions constituted a violation of their fundamental rights and prohibit them from filing any charges against them without first giving them “prior notice and/or an opportunity to be heard in the presence of his lawyer.”
It also called on the court to declare the mass detention and “disappearance” of political workers in contrast to the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution and to release them all forthwith, Dawn reported.
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