ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan prime minister, Imran Khan, has drawn Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s attention toward the “discrimination” faced by his party, urging him to ensure that all political parties get equal opportunities in the upcoming general elections, scheduled to be held on February 8. 

The development comes amid a months-long crackdown on supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which began after violent attacks on government and military installations over Khan’s brief arrest in a graft case in May this year. 

Several top aides and members of Khan’s party have since distanced themselves from the party, while many still remain behind bars. The ex-premier himself is facing a slew of cases that he says are “politically motivated” and aimed at keeping him out of politics. He has been in jail since August 5 after being convicted in a case involving the sale of state gifts. 

In a letter written to CJP Isa on Thursday, Khan said the apex court could not be unaware of the “disappearances” and “arbitrary arrests” of individuals affiliated with the PTI, and that there was no possibility of a fair general election on February 8 without the intervention of the apex court to halt these widespread arrests. 

“The practice of successive arrests of persons granted bails in known cases must be stopped. Arrests on the basis of fresh FIRs (first information reports), or the inclusion through supplementary statements, the list of accused in existing FIRs may only be undertaken after affording the accused opportunity to approach a court of competent jurisdiction for pre-arrest bail,” Khan wrote in his letter. 

“A commission may kindly be set to in investigating the abductions/disappearances of journalists/political workers all across the country.” 

The former premier requested the top judge to direct the federal and provincial governments as well as the election regulator to ensure that persons affiliated with all political parties, including the PTI, are allowed to carry out political meetings and gatherings without “discrimination between one party and any other.” 

“The federal government and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority be directed to ensure that all political parties, including the PTI, and their leaders and members are allowed coverage without any restriction or discrimination,” Khan added. 

Khan’s letter comes amid repeated accusations by his PTI party against the current caretaker administration and the military establishment of having a soft corner for three-time former premier Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. 

Sharif, who was convicted of corruption in 2018 and returned to Pakistan in October after nearly four years in self-imposed exile, was on Wednesday acquitted in a case relating to the purchase of upscale London flats. He was previously sentenced to 10 years in prison in the case. 

Khan’s loyalists see the recent judgments granting relief to Sharif and his family members as favors given to the PML-N, which appears to be poised to take over the reins of the country once again.