ISLAMABAD: Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s top aides said on Friday they had held a meeting with Pakistan Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, in a rare development to discuss drafting a National Judicial Policy.
The move comes days after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Afridi at his residence, with the top judge sharing the agenda of an upcoming meeting of the National Judicial Policy Making Committee and seeking the input of the government on the draft, according to the Supreme Court. The chief justice’s reforms agenda aims to reduce the pendency of cases and provide speedy justice to litigants.
Afridi had informed PM Sharif during their meeting that he would also be taking the opposition’s input and wanted bi-partisan support for his reforms.
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, Gohar Khan, the chairman of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, said the party had met the chief justice on his request to discuss the new National Judicial Policy.
“The chief justice of Pakistan had shared an agenda with us regarding National Judicial Policy and asked for our inputs on ten points,” Gohar said.
Last year, ex-PM Khan had written a letter to then Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who retired in October, seeking judicial intervention into alleged rigging in the Feb. 8, 2024 national election and the subsequent allocation of reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies, which the PTI says were unfairly allocated to their opponents.
After the election, the Election Commission of Pakistan had denied the PTI its share of 70 reserved seats in parliament, contending that Khan-backed independent candidates could not claim them. PTI candidates contested the polls independently after the party lost its election symbol in the run-up to election for not holding intra-party elections.
The Supreme Court later struck down the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision on the reserved seats, calling it “unconstitutional” and ordering that reserved seats be allocated to the PTI.
“We also told him [Chief Justice Afridi] that no one regards SC order as a court order these days. SC orders are not being implemented be it senate elections or reserved seats,” Gohar said.
The PTI chairman added that the chief justice had assured the party of taking “certain measures” to address its issues.
The Supreme Court issued a statement later in the day, corroborating the information shared by PTI leaders about their discussion with the chief justice regarding the situation faced by their party colleagues and supporters.
The statement emphasized the need to make judicial reform a “Minimum Common National Agenda” with comprehensive political support.
Pakistan, currently bolstered by a $7 billion IMF facility granted in September, is navigating an economic recovery path even as it faces prolonged political crisis.
Imran Khan, arguably the country’s most popular politician, has been behind bars since August 2023 in a slew of cases he says are politically motivated. His party has been leading a movement, including through street protests and sit-ins, to demand his release.
In rare development, ex-PM Khan aides hold meeting with Pakistan chief justice
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In rare development, ex-PM Khan aides hold meeting with Pakistan chief justice
- Imran Khan’s aides say top judge asked for their input on draft National Judicial Policy
- Supreme Court says judicial reform should be ‘minimum common national agenda’
Islamabad hits back after Indian minister blames Pakistan army for ‘ideological hostility’
- Jaishankar tells a public forum most of India’s problems with Islamabad stem from Pakistan’s military establishment
- Pakistan condemns the remarks, accusing India of waging a propaganda drive to deflect from its destabilizing actions
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan accused India on Sunday of running a propaganda campaign to malign its state institutions, a day after Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar attributed what he described as Pakistan’s “ideological hostility” toward New Delhi to the country’s powerful army.
Addressing a public forum in New Delhi, Jaishankar said most of India’s problems with Pakistan stemmed from its military establishment, which he argued had cultivated and sustained an entrenched animosity toward India.
His remarks came months after a brief but intense military confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors, during which both sides exchanged artillery and missile fire and deployed drones and fighter jets.
Responding to the comments, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi called them “highly inflammatory, baseless and irresponsible.”
“Pakistan is a responsible state and its all institutions, including armed forces, are a pillar of national security, dedicated to safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country,” Andrabi said in a statement. “The May 2025 conflict vividly demonstrated Pakistan armed forces’ professionalism as well as their resolve to defend the motherland and the people of Pakistan against any Indian aggression in a befitting, effective yet responsible manner.”
“The attempts by Indian leadership to defame Pakistan’s state institutions and its leadership are a part of a propaganda campaign designed to distract attention from India’s destabilising actions in the region and beyond as well as state-sponsored terrorism in Pakistan,” he said, adding that such “incendiary rhetoric” showed the extent of India’s disregard for regional peace and stability.
Andrabi said that rather than making “misleading remarks about the armed forces of Pakistan,” India should confront the “fascist and revisionist Hindutva ideology that has unleashed a reign of mob justice, lynchings, arbitrary detentions and demolition of properties and places of worship.”
He warned that the Indian state and its leadership had become hostage to “this terror in the name of religion.”
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947. They have also engaged in countless border skirmishes and major military standoffs, including the 1999 Kargil conflict.
The four-day conflict in May 2025 ended with a US-brokered ceasefire, after Washington said both sides had expressed willingness to pursue dialogue.
Pakistan said it was ready to discuss all outstanding issues, but India declined talks.
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