Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur appeared before the Supreme Court on Wednesday in the courtroom of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, requesting permission to meet PTI founder Imran Khan.

The chief minister was accompanied by his counsel Latif Khosa and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General Shah Faisal. Khosa informed the court that the matter was urgent, as the KP Assembly’s budget session is currently underway, and an immediate hearing was required to allow the budget committee to meet with the PTI founder.

However, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah advised the Chief Minister to approach Chief Justice Yahya Afridi or the Supreme Court Registrar, stating,

“This is not something we can address on the judicial side. You have knocked on the wrong door. The proper way is to contact the Chief Justice or the Registrar.”

Chief Minister Gandapur personally addressed the court, explaining that the budget approval process was ongoing in the assembly and despite repeated requests, the budget committee had not been allowed to meet Imran Khan.

He added that the PTI founder had also written a letter to the Supreme Court, which had been acknowledged positively by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, yet no action was taken.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah reiterated that the Chief Justice, currently in Lahore, is the appropriate authority to address the matter.

Aleema Khan: ‘I think he is minus one’

On Tuesday, speaking to reporters outside Adiala Jail after meeting her brother, Aleema Khan gave a candid response to a journalist’s question asking if Imran Khan had said the budget would not be passed without his approval, but now that it has been done, has Imran Khan been minused?

“I think it is done,” she said, referring to the feared “minus one” formula — a term often used to describe efforts to remove Imran Khan from PTI's core leadership.

She criticized KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s administration for allegedly rushing the budget approval without consulting the party founder.