Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has claimed that Imran Khan explicitly directed party leadership to block the appointment of Justice Qazi Faez Isa as Chief Justice of Pakistan.
Speaking at a public gathering, Gandapur alleged that the PTI founder viewed the appointment as part of a broader “systemic effort” to undermine the party’s legal standing. The statement marks a rare, public confirmation of internal party directives regarding high-level judicial appointments that have remained the subject of intense political speculation for months.
“He told us to stop it,” Gandapur said, referring to the former prime minister’s stance during the tenure of the previous PDM-led coalition government. “He made it clear that this wasn’t just about a single judge; it was about the direction of the institution.”
The disclosure shifts focus back to the friction between the PTI and the judiciary during the transition of power in the Supreme Court. Justice Isa, who took the oath as the 29th Chief Justice in September 2023, faced significant scrutiny from the PTI throughout his tenure, particularly following the reference filed against him in 2019.
For the PTI, the opposition to Justice Isa’s elevation was rooted in the belief that the judiciary was being weaponized to facilitate the party’s political marginalization. By bringing these instructions into the public domain, Gandapur is framing the party’s past parliamentary maneuvers not as mere obstructionism, but as a calculated defense against what they describe as a compromised judicial process.
The political stakes remain high. With the Supreme Court currently embroiled in debates over the interpretation of constitutional amendments and the status of reserved seats, Gandapur’s comments serve as a reminder of the deep-seated mistrust between the PTI and the current judicial leadership.
Critics argue that such rhetoric risks further politicizing the bench, while PTI loyalists see it as a necessary clarification of their leader’s resistance to the status quo.
The Chief Minister stopped short of detailing the specific strategies the party deployed to halt the appointment, but his admission confirms that the confrontation was a top-down directive from Adiala Jail. As the legal battles continue, this revelation adds another layer of complexity to the already fraught relationship between the opposition and the halls of justice.
