Pakistan: Imran Khan threatens hunger strike, cites lack of confidence in SC chief justice

Imran Khan, the imprisoned former prime minister of Pakistan, warned on Friday to embark on a hunger strike in the event that Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court did not provide justice in his cases.

During a media encounter at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, the 71-year-old leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) expressed his worries with Chief Justice Isa’s involvement in benches that handle both his and the party’s cases.

In the Adiala Jail, where he is being held, he was present in court for the hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case.

He objected to the presence of Chief Justice Isa in the panels formed to hear cases related to his PTI party, warning to go on hunger strike if the chief justice failed to deliver justice.

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“I am consulting about going on a hunger strike. If I don’t get justice, I will go on a hunger strike,” he said, clarifying that his lawyers have objected to the inclusion of Chief Justice Isa in every bench about cases of his party.

“How does Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa come to every bench that hears PTI and my cases?” he asked.

Khan also said that former Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed had said that Isa cannot hear cases of PTI. He added that PTI lawyers believe that they will not get justice, “so our cases should be heard by someone else”.

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Chief Justice Isa clarified during the hearing of a case of PTI that the panels set up to hear different cases are not formed by him but by a committee of three senior-most judges of the court and he is just one of the three members.

There is a history of mistrust between Khan and Chief Justice Isa.

A complaint was made by Khan, when he was serving as the prime minister, to remove Isa as a judge due to alleged corruption.

Consequently, Isa and his wife had to go through an arduous process and finally, the apex court rejected the cases against him.

In the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case, Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi are accused of receiving land worth billions of rupees as a bribe from a real estate tycoon.