The incarceration of former First Family is now an international issue, as the beleaguered PTI has knocked at the doors of the UN for their release. Formal petitions on behalf of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were submitted with the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, with assertions that sheer injustice is being done by keeping them behind bars. The prayer also complains of “arbitrary detention and inhumane treatment”, which is “politically motivated and aimed at undermining the former PM’s resolve”.
The appeals were made with the assistance of human rights law firm Perseus Strategies. Though it is little known as to what impact these petitions will have on the legal premise at home, it has certainly flagged Pakistan’s pestering political instability as well as the jaundiced prosecution.
The petitions filed by Khan’s sons and Bushra’s sister have come at a time when the PTI’s leader’s political struggle is at the crossroads. Recently, the Supreme Court had granted him bail in the May 9 vandalism cases, and he stands acquitted in many of the high-profile cases framed against him. The point of fury for the party, however, is that it has been pushed to the wall, and the available legal valves are unbecoming of the standards of fair play. Thus, Khan’s sons had recently undertaken a campaign in their personal capacity too, on the completion of their father’s two years in prison, by meeting movers and shakers in the US and the UK.
Now their tapping of the UN rapporteur seems to be a move out of restlessness. Concerns on Khan’s health could also be a factor behind this move, as well as the unprecedented delays in the hearing of appeals in which he has been sentenced.
The point is: what’s next? Khan’s prolonged prosecution and delays in timely justice are an issue, and squarely acknowledged even by his adversaries. The way out is to let the law take its course without any bias, per se, and the jailed couple be provided with lawful relief.
