ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Friday allowed leaders of former prime minister Imran Khan’s political party to hold election consultations with him in a high-security prison in Rawalpindi while questioning the impartiality of the caretaker administration which is required to oversee national elections scheduled to be held on Feb. 8.

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party had moved the Islamabad High Court a day earlier, seeking judicial intervention to hold election meetings with the former prime minister who was arrested from his residence in August after being convicted in a graft case.

PTI counsel Shoaib Shaheen informed the court the party would need to hold consultations with Khan before issuing some 700 tickets for the national and provincial constituencies ahead of the general elections.

However, Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan raised objections to the maintainability of the plea.

“The permission for consultations over the elections is a fundamental right,” Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb remarked while rejecting the attorney-general’s argument.

He expressed displeasure over Awan’s position, saying “the opposition to the meeting between Imran Khan and his party leaders raises questions over neutrality of the caretaker setup.”

“A terrible system is being run under this interim government where even consultation on elections is not allowed,” he continued, asking if the caretakers wanted to “derail the polls.”

The judge said the attorney-general was representing the interim administration and should, therefore, remain impartial.

He later accepted the PTI petition, allowing the party to hold consultations with Khan in prison, while passing orders for a meeting between the newly elected PTI chairman, Barrister Gohar Khan, and ex-PM Khan under the supervision of the jail superintendent.

Later, addressing a news conference, Barrister Gohar said conspiracies had been hatched to snatch away PTI’s iconic election symbol of cricket bat while excluding the party from the upcoming national polls.

“If you take away our electoral symbol, will all of us contest as independent candidates,” he asked.

“If this happens, who will be responsible for horse trading after the polls,” he added while referring to the practice of offering money, positions or other incentives to lawmakers in exchange for their vote or loyalty.