ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday sought Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s recusal from benches hearing his cases in a written statement to the Supreme Court, saying the move would uphold the principle of impartiality.
Khan submitted his response to the court in a case relating to amendments made to Pakistan’s accountability laws. The former premier had moved the top court in 2022 against certain changes made to the laws that year, alleging they were made to benefit influential accused persons and legitimize corruption.
In his response, Khan cited the top court’s judgment in a 2021 case in which the court had said Justice Isa, then a Supreme Court judge, should not hear cases against Khan to maintain impartiality. The reasoning cited by the court was that Justice Isa had filed a petition, in a personal capacity, against Khan in the same case.
“In the said judgment it is observed that in order to uphold the principle of unbias-ness and impartiality it would be in the interest of justice that Justice Qazi Faez Isa (as he then was, now Chief Justice) should not hear matters involving me,” Khan’s response read.
Justice Isa also faced a presidential reference filed by the Imran Khan-led government in May 2019 that alleged the judge had acquired multiple properties in London in the name of his wife and children from 2011 to 2015, but did not declare them in the statement of his assets.
Justice Isa had contested the allegations and maintained he was neither directly nor indirectly a beneficial owner of the properties. The reference was subsequently nullified by the Supreme Court but Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has repeatedly asked Justice Isa to recuse himself from cases involving the cricketer-turned-politician.
Khan has been in jail since last August after he was convicted in some cases ahead of a national election in February this year. He is also fighting dozens of other cases that Khan and his party say are politically motivated to thwart his return to power.
In recent months, Pakistani courts have suspended Khan’s jail sentences in two cases about the illegal acquisition and sale of state gifts and also overturned his conviction on charges of leaking state secrets.
However, he has remained in prison due to a conviction in another case in which a trial court ruled that his 2018 marriage was unlawful. Khan also faces a trial under anti-terrorism charges in connection with violence in May last year.
