Pakistan court dismisses treason plea against Imran Khan, others as inadmissible

Islamabad, Apr 11: A top Pakistani court here on Monday dismissed a petition to register a treason case against former prime minister Imran Khan and various ministers, saying it was inadmissible.

Chief Justice Athar Minallah of the Islamabad High Court delivered a reserved verdict during which he also fined the petitioner Maulvi Iqbal Haider Rs100,000, the Express Tribune newspaper reported. Request to put the names of ex-premier and other former ministers on the no-fly list was also rejected by the court along with the plea to probe the diplomatic dispatch which alleges 'foreign conspiracy to oust Imran Khan's government'.

The court dismissed the petition on Monday, seeking to register a treason case against former prime minister Khan and various ministers, as inadmissible, the report added.

Earlier, it was reported that despite serious concern from the legal wing, former prime minister Khan sent the Foreign Office diplomatic letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, claiming that a foreign country sent a threatening message through Pakistan’s envoy.

Sources told The Express Tribune that there is a possibility that the CJP may not read the diplomatic letter. It was being reported that a US official had warned that there could have been implications if Khan had survived the opposition’s no-confidence motion in the National Assembly. An emergency petition was also filed in the IHC on Saturday, seeking to restrain then prime minister Khan from de-notifying Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

On Saturday, Khan became the first premier in the country’s history to be sent home after losing the trust of the House. In a live address to the nation last week, Khan discussed a 'threat letter' and termed it as part of a foreign conspiracy to remove him as he was not acceptable for following an independent foreign policy. He named the US as the country behind the threat letter against his government.

The US State Department has firmly rejected Khan's remarks over Washington's role in an alleged foreign conspiracy to oust him from power. America also asserted that it did not send any letter to Pakistan on the current political situation in the country as it sought to refute allegations of America's involvement in the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan-led government.