Pakistan: Court Rejects Plea Seeking Investigation Into ‘Threat Letter’
Islamabad, April 11: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday rejected the plea that sought to place the names of the former prime minister Imran Khan and his party’s ex-ministers on the Exit Control List (ECL) and had also sought an investigation into an alleged threat letter, Geo TV reported.
Chief Justice of IHC Athar Minallah issued a five-page long reserved verdict against the plea, while also slapping a Rs. 100,000 fine on the petitioner Maulvi Iqbal Haider.
He argued that the opposition parties had filed a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan, on which Khan first remained silent and then showed a “threat letter” and said that a conspiracy had been hatched against his government, only to later reveal that the apparent ‘threatening message’ was from US Assistant Secretary of State for the South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu.
At the outset the IHC Chief Justice asked the petitioner why was he politicizing the issue? “It is the responsibility of the state,” he noted. The petitioner pleaded that since the US authorities rejected the threatening letter in totality, hence, the diplomatic cable should be investigated.
