ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has sought a detailed report from the state counsel over a failure to arrange a meeting between PTI founder Imran Khan and his lawyer in a case regarding his X account.

According to Justice Arbab Muham­mad Tahir’s written order, released on Thursday, Advocate Salman Akram Raja told the bench that he was unable to effectively assist in the case as he had been denied access to his client.

He said meaningful progress on key legal points could not be made without receiving direct instructions from his client.

The court noted that it had earlier directed the authorities to allow the meeting and now sought an explanation for the non-compliance.

The state counsel has been ordered to submit a detailed report before the next hearing, scheduled for Feb 24.

State counsel told to submit detailed report before next hearing on Feb 24

The petition, currently being heard by the IHC, raises constitutional and legal questions relating to freedom of expression, due process and the regulation of social media platforms.

Meanwhile, a Pakistan Telecom-mu­nication Authority report submitted to the court revealed that over the past three and a half years, the PTA made three separate requests to X to block or restrict the PTI founder’s account but received no substantive response.

The first request was sent on Aug 21, 2022, followed by another on April 18, 2024, citing court convictions in the Toshakhana, cypher and unlawful marriage cases. Despite this, X did not act on the requests.

On Nov 27, 2025, the PTA sought the blocking of 47 tweets from the PTI founder’s account, but X blocked only one.

During recent proceedings, the IHC had expressed dissatisfaction with PTA’s response and questioned how the case could proceed if counsel continued to be denied access to the PTI founder.

The court had also taken note of increasing restrictions on meetings between the former premier, his family members and party leaders.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2026