The Islamabad High Court has directed jail authorities to arrange an urgent meeting between former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his lawyer, a development that highlights the ongoing legal access concerns in one of Pakistan’s most closely watched corruption cases (Imran Khan Al-Qadir Trust Case).

What Happened on April 7, 2026? (Imran Khan Al-Qadir Trust Case)

In a significant development in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust corruption case, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday ordered jail authorities to facilitate a meeting between jailed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, at 2 pm on Wednesday.

A division bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif issued this directive while hearing petitions related to the £190 million case and the suspension of sentences of Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi.

Chief Justice Dogar told the defence counsel directly: “You may go and meet the PTI founder,” adding that the schedule for the appeals could be fixed after the meeting takes place. The court further indicated that once arguments begin, it would aim to decide the appeals within seven days, a significant signal to all parties involved.

The hearing of Imran Khan Al-Qadir Trust Case was adjourned after Barrister Safdar referred to a March 31 court order supporting his request to meet his client. The court approved the application immediately, directing jail authorities to arrange the meeting without delay.

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Why Was the Meeting So Urgently Needed?

This is not a routine request. At the heart of this development is a deeply troubling allegation: that Imran Khan has been denied meaningful legal access for months.

According to a miscellaneous application filed by Barrister Salman Safdar, Imran Khan has not been able to hold any meaningful or effective meeting with his legal team since December 20, 2025, a period of over three months and twelve days. During this time, the defence has been unable to receive proper instructions from their client, making it practically impossible to build arguments for the appeals.

The application names three respondents: the Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Inspector General of Punjab Prisons, and the Superintendent of Adiala Jail. It requests that the court issue clear directions for immediate, uninterrupted, and meaningful access to legal counsel for both Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi.

The petition invokes some of Pakistan’s most fundamental constitutional protections, Articles 9, 10-A, and 14 of the Constitution of Pakistan, as well as the Pakistan Prison Rules of 1978. It argues that the right to meet a lawyer is not a privilege but a fundamental right. The application bluntly states: “The act of banning inmates from meeting their families, friends, and legal counsel is not only in blatant violation of the Pakistan Prison Rules, 1978, but also amounts to a gross abuse of fundamental human rights.”

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What Is the Imran Khan Al-Qadir Trust Case? (A Quick Background)

For those following this case for the first time, here is a clear summary of what the £190 millionImran Khan Al-Qadir Trust case is about.

The case centres on a settlement involving £190 million in assets seized by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) from property tycoon Malik Riaz’s real estate company, Bahria Town. In December 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet approved a settlement with the UK crime agency. Under the arrangement, the money was to be transferred to the Pakistani government.

However, according to the National Accountability Bureau, instead of being deposited into the national treasury, the funds were adjusted against fines imposed on Bahria Town in a separate land acquisition case. Shortly after this settlement, the Al-Qadir Trust was founded in Islamabad. Members of the trust included PTI leaders and Bushra Bibi.

The NAB alleges that in exchange for this arrangement, Malik Riaz provided land worth billions of rupees for the construction of Al-Qadir University, a spiritual and educational institution. This, prosecutors say, amounts to corruption and abuse of authority. Imran Khan has consistently denied all wrongdoing, insisting that neither he nor Bushra Bibi personally benefited from the trust or the transactions involved.

On January 17, 2025, an accountability court in Islamabad convicted Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi in this case, sentencing Khan to 14 years and Bushra Bibi to 7 years in prison. Both challenged their convictions before the Islamabad High Court.

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The Courtroom Battle: What Has Been Happening?

Repeated delays, adjournments, and legal friction between the defence and the prosecution have marked the road to Tuesday’s hearing.

On March 31, 2026, the IHC adjourned the hearing on sentence suspension pleas after Barrister Safdar informed the court that he had been unable to meet or receive instructions from Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi for the past five months. The court granted the defence additional time and adjourned to April 6.

At the April 6 hearing, the same issue persisted. Safdar again raised the inability to consult his clients. The bench adjourned and the matter was carried forward to the hearing on April 7, the one that ultimately led to the court’s direct intervention ordering the jail meeting.

During proceedings, the NAB special prosecutors, Javed Ashraf and Rafi Maqsood, appeared before the court. The prosecution has consistently argued that procedural steps must be followed, including proper notice in main appeals, before sentence suspension applications can be entertained. They urged the court to proceed with arguments on the appeals if the defence was ready.

The defence, however, maintains that without consulting their clients, they cannot responsibly advance any arguments. Barrister Safdar has pointed out that the suspension of sentence application has been pending since March 19, 2025, for over a year, and has been heard on at least 16 different dates with no resolution.

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Imran Khan’s Broader Legal Situation

Imran Khan has been imprisoned at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since August 2023. Beyond the Al-Qadir Trust case, he faces multiple other legal proceedings:

• Toshakhana I Case: He and Bushra Bibi were sentenced to 14 years on January 31, 2024, for unlawfully selling state gifts. The IHC suspended their sentences in April 2024, but the appeals remain pending.
• Toshakhana II Case: A separate case related to state gifts.
• May 9 Cases: Multiple charges under anti-terrorism laws linked to the unrest that followed his initial arrest on May 9, 2023.

On April 3, 2026, Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi filed applications under Section 561-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, urging the IHC to urgently fix their appeals for final hearing. The petitions alleged that the prosecution was employing deliberate delay tactics to prolong their detention without a final judgment. Their legal team — which includes Salman Akram Raja, Barrister Ali Zafar, and Barrister Salman Safdar — urged the court that “justice must not only be done but also be seen to be done.”

Adding to the concern is Imran Khan’s deteriorating health. He has been diagnosed with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), a serious eye condition, according to a report submitted to the Supreme Court. The IHC had previously directed the capital city chief commissioner to constitute a medical board to assess his health condition.

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What PTI and the Defence Are Saying

The defence team has been vocal about what it describes as a systematic effort to delay the legal process. Bushra Bibi’s counsel stated in filings that law officers from NAB are “deliberately and intentionally seeking unnecessary adjournments and employing delaying tactics, clearly obstructing the course of justice.”

The petition further stated: “Such conduct effectively reduces the judicial process to a means of punitive detention, where the Applicant is made to suffer incarceration not on the strength of a final adjudication, but due to calculated delays orchestrated by the prosecuting agency.”

Bushra Bibi’s application also highlights that her sentence suspension plea has been pending for over ten months, with notices originally issued in May 2025. Her lawyers argue that as a female accused who has already served more than a year of her seven-year sentence, she is entitled to statutory leniency under Pakistani law.

PTI leaders have broadly echoed these concerns, framing the restrictions on legal access as politically motivated. In January 2025, Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari, a former PTI aide, claimed publicly that he was pressured to testify against Imran Khan in this case, describing the proceedings as politically motivated and lacking evidence of personal gain.

What Happens Next?

With the IHC now ordering a lawyer-client meeting on Wednesday, April 8, the next hearing will be significant. Chief Justice Dogar indicated that the appeal schedule could be fixed after Barrister Safdar meets with Imran Khan. The court also suggested it could dedicate two hearing days per week to these appeals, and signalled it would aim to conclude arguments within seven days once proceedings begin.

This means the coming weeks could be decisive for the Al-Qadir Trust case. Whether the IHC moves forward with sentence suspension applications separately — or takes up the main appeals first, remains to be seen.

For a case that has dominated Pakistani political news for over two years, the pace of proceedings in the next few hearings could significantly affect the trajectory of Imran Khan’s imprisonment and the fate of Pakistan’s most high-profile corruption case.

Key Facts at a Glance

 Disclaimer: This article is based on information sourced from publicly available news reports from Dawn, Pakistan Today, The Express Tribune, The Nation, and other credible Pakistani and international news outlets. Verified Insights Pakistan does not take any political position on the matters discussed. All allegations mentioned are either charges before a court of law or statements made by parties involved in the case. Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi have denied wrongdoing. Readers are encouraged to follow official court updates for the latest developments.