Why jailed ex-PM Imran Khan gave Arvind Kejriwal’s bail example in Pakistan’s Supreme Court

Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, who is currently in jail, invoked interim bail granted to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal while complaining to the country's supreme court about mistreatment meted to him in jail.

Khan told the Supreme Court that the apex court in India granted interim bail to Arvind Kejriwal to campaign ahead of general elections, PTI reported.

The former prime minister also said that he was facing oppression in Pakistan which was under undeclared "martial law".

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman complained to apex court during his appearance on Thursday before a five-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa in a case related to amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).

Justices Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Athar Minallah, and Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi also sat on the bench.

Justice Minallah remarked that it was unfortunate that Khan was in jail as he was the head of a large party with millions of followers, reported PTI.

Imran Khan also complained that he was convicted within five days to keep him away from the general elections which were held on February 8.

Khan also expressed dismay over the Supreme Court’s judgment rejecting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s government plea requesting the live streaming of the case.

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“You wrote [in the judgment] that I did political point scoring during the last hearing. I did not get it, what political scoring did I resort to,” the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder asked Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

At this, Chief Justice Isa said a judge does not owe an explanation to anyone over the verdict. “You can file a review petition,” the top judge said.

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According to report, Khan also asked the court to compare the facilities given to him in jail with the facilities given to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

However, in a lighter vein, Justice Mandokhel said the elder Sharif was not in jail at the moment, “Do you want us to send him to jail?”

The chief justice remarked the court would arrange a surprise visit by the judicial officer.