Aneel Mussarat funds Imran Khan's appeal to UN over proposed changes to Constitution

LONDON: Businessman Aneel Mussarat has funded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder chairman Imran Khan’s appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers against the proposed amendments to the Constitution, to be tabled in Parliament within days.

Sources in the PTI confirmed to Geo News that Imran's sister Aleema Khan and his former adviser on housing, Aneel Mussarat, decided together to get the UN involved on the matter on the PTI founder's wish, who is in Adiala Jail.

The Doughty Street Chambers said it was acting on instructions of Imran's family. The PTI source said that Aleema asked Mussarat to get the UK lawyers on board.

A legal source said that normally a petition like this for the initial work costs around £35,000 to £50,000.

The costs are high because it involved big names like Edward Fitzgerald KC, Tatyana Eatwell and Jennifer Robinson, who have been instructed by Imran Khan’s family to conduct UN engagement and international advocacy on his behalf.

Edward Fitzgerald KC has previously represented Imran Khan’s friend Arif Naqvi, Karachi businessman Jabir Motiwala, who was wanted by the US but his case collapsed, and Asif Hafeez, who was last year extradited to the US. He and Jennifer Robinson were also involved in Julian Assange case too.

According to the law firm, Imran's lawyers have filed the urgent appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur, Margaret Satterthwaite.

It says the appeal concerns the proposed 26th Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan and the serious threat it poses to the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law, and the protection of fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan, including for him and his supporters.

It has been alleged the proposed amendments would entrench existing impunity for human rights violations committed by the security forces. According to the appeal, the proposed constitutional amendments would make the following changes:

a) Remove jurisdiction from the Supreme Court to a new Federal Constitutional Court, including in relation to the enforcement of the protection of fundamental rights and matters of constitutional interpretation;

b) Provide for the selection of the chief justice of the new Federal Constitutional Court by a new National Assembly committee whose meetings would be held in private, sparking serious concerns about political interference in judicial appointments and undermining judicial independence and public scrutiny of the process;

c) Remove the ability to judicially review the actions of Pakistan’s security services, further reinforcing systematic impunity.

d) If passed, the amendments will significantly restrict the ability of Imran Khan to challenge cases brought against him, including the government’s plans to try him in a military court, and will further undermine the independence of the judiciary, the separation of powers, and the protection of human rights and civil liberties in Pakistan.

The submission urges the Special Rapporteur to issue an urgent communication to Pakistan about the proposed amendment.

"Mr Khan was ousted from office on 10 April 2022 and first charged under anti-terrorism legislation after he criticised the police and other state institutions at a PTI rally on 21 August 2022. Since that time, there has been a rapid descent in the rule of law in Pakistan – and numerous spurious criminal cases have been brought against him, PTI members and supporters. The media has been prohibited from mentioning Mr Khan by name, and numerous journalists and opposition politicians have been abducted, tortured or otherwise mistreated," it noted.

Edward Fitzgerald KC, Tatyana Eatwell and Jennifer Robinson, international counsel for Imran Khan and his family, said: “The proposed amendments are clearly aimed at removing the jurisdiction and powers of the Supreme Court, at a time when the judiciary in Pakistan is already under threat. Judges have been threatened and coerced to deliver prescribed verdicts in controversial cases,” adding that the proposed amendments would entrench existing impunity for human rights violations committed by the security forces.

Imran and his family bring this urgent appeal to protect the independence of judges and rule of law, and to protect fundamental rights in Pakistan and every citizen’s ability to enforce those rights.

"Since he was ousted from office in April 2022, Mr Khan, PTI members and supporters have faced hundreds of spurious criminal cases. He has been imprisoned in Pakistan since August 2023.

In June 2024 the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that he was unlawfully and arbitrarily detained. On 11 September 2024, Amnesty International called for Mr Khan’s immediate release from arbitrary detention.”

Aneel Mussarat was once a close friend and business partner of the Sharif family, before falling out with them and joining Imran Khan.

It was revealed in 2022 in UK court papers related to the National Crime Agency’s money-laundering investigation into Shehbaz Sharif and his son Suleman Sharif that Aneel Mussarat, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) donor, bought a property in London on behalf of Sharif and also helped him buy two others while they were close friends.

Sharif’s lawyers told the NCA that Mussarat purchased Flat 2, 30 Upper Berkeley Street, London, in 2005 on behalf of their client.

The NCA was also told that Mussarat bought the Berkeley Street property at an auction for Sharif and made the payment in order to meet the strict time limits that apply in the case of an auctioned property. Shehbaz Sharif and his son were cleared in the probe.

After the PTI formed govt in 2018, Aneel Mussarat became Imran Khan’s ‘Naya Pakistan Housing scheme’ advisor to build five million homes. He has also been close to former PM Yousuf Raza Gilani and General (retired) Bajwa