Imran Khan threatens hunger strike over lack of trust in Pakistan SC

Islamabad: Jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday threatened to go on hunger strike if Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa does not ensure justice in the cases against him.

The 71-year-old president of the Pakistan Movement for Justice (PTI) made the statement during a media briefing at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, citing ongoing concerns over Chief Justice Isa’s involvement in the courts that hear the party’s cases and his own.

He was present in court in connection with the hearing in the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case at Adiala Prison, where he is lodged.

He objected to the presence of Chief Justice Isa in the panels hearing cases related to his PTI party and threatened to go on hunger strike if the Chief Justice did not do justice.

“I am considering going on hunger strike. If I do not get justice, I will go on hunger strike,” he said, clarifying that his lawyers had objected to the inclusion of Chief Justice Isa in all courtrooms dealing with his party’s cases.

“How does Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa come to every court hearing the cases of PTI and me?” he asked.

Khan also said that former Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed had said that Isa could not try PTI cases. He added that PTI lawyers felt that they would not get justice, “so our cases should be tried by someone else.”

While hearing a PTI case, Chief Justice Isa clarified that the panels set up to hear the various cases were not constituted by him but by a committee of the three senior-most judges of the court and he was only one of the three members.

There has always been distrust between Khan and Chief Justice Isa.

During his tenure as prime minister, Khan had filed a complaint against Isa, accusing him of corruption.

As a result, Isa and his wife had to go through a tedious process and finally the Supreme Court dismissed the cases against him.

In the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case, Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi are accused of accepting bribes in the form of land worth billions of rupees from a real estate magnate.