{"id":1163591,"date":"2026-02-16T18:56:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T13:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.app.com.pk\/?p=1163591"},"modified":"2026-02-16T18:56:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T13:56:52","slug":"sc-declares-founder-ptis-three-criminal-petitions-infructuous-adjourns-them-indefinitely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/sc-declares-founder-ptis-three-criminal-petitions-infructuous-adjourns-them-indefinitely\/","title":{"rendered":"SC declares founder PTI’s three criminal petitions infructuous, adjourns them indefinitely"},"content":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD, Feb 16 (APP):The Supreme Court of Pakistan has declared three criminal petitions, filed by founder PTI, as infructuous and adjourned them indefinitely, holding that since the trial court\u2019s final judgment has already been challenged and is pending before the high court, the petitioner may raise all objections before the appropriate forum.<\/div>\n
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According to a detailed written judgment issued on Monday, a two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan passed the order after hearing the matter on February 12.<\/div>\n
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The three petitions arose out of the same criminal case instituted on a complaint filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan through the District Election Commissioner, Islamabad.<\/div>\n
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Although the petitions challenged different interim and ancillary orders, they stemmed from a common set of proceedings.<\/div>\n
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In the first petition, the petitioner had raised legal objections before the trial court, including issues relating to jurisdiction and limitation, which were dismissed. The high court, in review, remanded the matter to the trial court.<\/div>\n
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However, the trial was subsequently completed and a final judgment was delivered on August 5, 2023. An appeal against that judgment is currently pending before the high court.<\/div>\n
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In the second petition, the petitioner challenged the rejection of his request to summon certain witnesses. Despite filing a review petition and a miscellaneous application before the high court, no stay order was granted, and the trial proceeded to conclusion.<\/div>\n
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The third petition assailed the dismissal of a request seeking transfer of the case from one court to another. By that time, the trial court had already pronounced its final judgment, which has since been challenged in appeal.<\/div>\n
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The apex court observed that the interim orders impugned in these petitions had merged into the final judgment of the trial court, which is presently under challenge before the high court. As such, the petitions before the Supreme Court had become infructuous.<\/div>\n
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The court had also sought a report from the Attorney General regarding the petitioner\u2019s accommodation and facilities in jail, in light of directions earlier issued by a three-member bench.<\/div>\n
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Pursuant to the court\u2019s order, the Superintendent of Central Jail Rawalpindi and amicus curiae Barrister Salman Safdar submitted separate reports.<\/div>\n
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After reviewing the reports, the court held that, overall, the petitioner\u2019s accommodation, food, medical facilities and security arrangements in jail were satisfactory, and noted that the petitioner himself had expressed satisfaction. However, concern was raised regarding his eye health, upon which the Attorney General assured the court that a medical board comprising ophthalmology specialists, would conduct an immediate examination.<\/div>\n
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The court also recorded that the amicus curiae had recommended that the petitioner be allowed, in accordance with the law, to contact his sons, Suleman Khan and Qasim Khan, who reside in the United Kingdom, and to be provided certain books. The Attorney General assured the court of cooperation in this regard as well.<\/div>\n
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The court held that its order dated August 24, 2023, concerning jail conditions had been complied with. However, in view of the directions of the earlier three-member bench, the present petitions were adjourned indefinitely and would be fixed for hearing after the high court decides the pending appeal.<\/div>\n
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The court clarified that, in the meantime, if the petitioner has any grievance, he may first approach the high court where his appeal is currently pending.<\/div>\n
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD, Feb 16 (APP):The Supreme Court of Pakistan has declared three criminal petitions, filed by founder PTI, as infructuous and adjourned them indefinitely, holding that since the trial court\u2019s final judgment has already been challenged and is pending before the high court, the petitioner may raise all objections before the appropriate forum. According to a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1160782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","_speechable_audio":"","_speechable_word_timings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[9077,3020],"post_template":[],"top_category":[],"class_list":["post-1163591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-chief-justice-yahya-afridi","tag-supreme-court","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1163591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1160782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1163591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1163591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1163591"},{"taxonomy":"post_template","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_template?post=1163591"},{"taxonomy":"top_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/top_category?post=1163591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}