ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday allowed military courts to announce judgments reserved in cases against civilians linked to the May 9 violence that erupted last year after the brief detention of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on corruption charges.
Demonstrators, identified with Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, targeted government buildings and military installations, notably setting ablaze the official residence of a senior army general in Lahore.
This incident prompted a significant crackdown on PTI leaders and supporters, with the government facing allegations of arbitrary arrests and custodial torture, which it denied.
Following the May 9 events, military authorities sought to prosecute civilians involved in the assaults on its properties nationwide. However, the move was challenged, and a five-member Supreme Court bench deemed civilian trials in military courts unconstitutional in October.
The government has since appealed the decision.
The Supreme Court said during the hearing today that only the verdict in those cases should be announced in which the people on trial can be released before the Eid Al-Fitr festivities next month.
“Twenty out of 103 suspects involved in the May 9 incidents will be released before Eid,” Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan told the court. “These 20 individuals will be released following the established procedure.”
The PTI has complained of being unjustly targeted by state institutions since the downfall of its administration in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022.
Khan himself remains behind bars in a high-security prison in Rawalpindi after being convicted in a number of cases in recent months.
Pakistan’s top court conditionally allows military courts to declare reserved judgments in May 9 cases
https://arab.news/65mt4
Pakistan’s top court conditionally allows military courts to declare reserved judgments in May 9 cases
- Supreme Court says judgments can only be announced in cases in which people can be released before Eid Al-Fitr
- Attorney general says 20 people can be released before the Muslim religious festival is celebrated next month
Pakistan opposition to continue protest over ex-PM Khan’s health amid conflicting reports
- Pakistan’s government insists that the ex-premier’s eye condition has improved
- Khan’s personal doctor says briefed on his condition but cannot confirm veracity
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s opposition alliance on Monday vowed to continue their protest sit-in at parliament and demanded “clarity” over the health of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, following conflicting medical reports about his eye condition.
The 73-year-old former cricket star-turned-politician has been held at the high-security Adiala prison in Rawalpindi since 2023. Concerns arose about his health last week when a court-appointed lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, was asked to visit Khan at the jail to assess his living conditions. Safdar reported that Khan had suffered “severe vision loss” in his right eye due to central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), leaving him with just 15 percent sight in the affected eye.
On Sunday, a team of doctors from various hospitals visited the prison to examine Khan’s eye condition, according to the Adiala jail superintendent, who later submitted his report in the court. On Monday, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi observed that based on reports from the prison authorities and the amicus curiae, Khan’s “living conditions in jail do not presently exhibit any perverse aspects.” It noted that Khan had “generally expressed satisfaction with the prevailing conditions of his confinement” and had not sought facilities beyond the existing level of care.
Having carefully perused both reports in detail, the bench observed that their general contents and the overall picture emerging therefrom are largely consistent. The opposition alliance, which continued to stage its sit-in for a fourth consecutive day on Monday, held a meeting at the parliament building on Monday evening to deliberate on the emerging situation and discuss their future course of action.
“The sit-in will continue till there is clarity on the matter of [Khan's] health,” Sher Ali Arbab, a lawmaker from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who has been participating in the sit-in, told Arab News, adding that PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and Opposition Leader in Senate Raja Nasir Abbas had briefed them about their meeting with doctors who had visited Khan on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters outside parliament, Gohar said the doctors had informed them that Khan’s condition had improved.
“They said, 'There has been a significant and satisfactory improvement.' With that satisfactory improvement, we also felt satisfied,” he said, noting that the macular thickness in Khan’s eye had reportedly dropped from 550 to 300 microns, a sign of subsiding swelling.
Gohar said the party did not want to politicize Khan’s health.
“We are not doctors, nor is this our field,” he said, noting that Khan’s personal physician in Lahore, Dr. Aasim Yusuf, and his eye specialist Dr. Khurram Mirza had also sought input from the Islamabad-based medical team.
“Our doctors also expressed satisfaction over the report.”
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS
Despite Gohar’s cautious optimism, Khan’s personal physician, Dr. Yusuf, issued a video message on Monday, saying he could neither “confirm nor deny the veracity” of the government’s claims.
“Because I have not seen him myself and have not been able to participate in his care... I’m unable to confirm what we have been told,” Yusuf said.
He appealed to authorities to grant him or fellow physician, Dr. Faisal Sultan, immediate access to Khan, arguing that the ex-premier should be moved to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for specialist care.
Speaking to Arab News, PTI’s central information secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said Khan’s sister and their cousin, Dr. Nausherwan Burki, will speak to media on Tuesday to express their views about the situation.
The government insists that Khan’s condition has improved.
“His eye [condition] has improved and is better than before,” State Minister Talal Chaudhry told the media in a brief interaction on Monday.
“The Supreme Court of Pakistan is involved, and doctors are involved. What medicine he receives, whether he needs to be hospitalized or sent home, these decisions are made by doctors. Neither lawyers nor any political party will decide this.”
