In a blow to Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Islamabad District and Sessions Court on Saturday upheld the maintainability of the criminal complaint filed against him for allegedly concealing details of Toshakhana gifts.
Additional Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar, who had earlier dismissed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief’s objections about the admissibility of the case, announced the verdict on Sunday, Dawn reported. The next hearing will be on July 12, when the court will summon witnesses to depose before the trial proceedings for Khan begin.
This comes after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday declared as “inadmissible” the evidence placed by the Toshakhana body against former Prime Minister Imran Khan. The IHC had earlier asked the sessions court to take a fresh decision within seven days considering the prime minister’s petition as pending. The case was filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Imran Khan sought exemption from attending the hearing, on which ECP’s lawyer Saad Hasan objected.
During the court proceedings, Judge Dilawar noted that Khan’s lawyer Khawaja Haris did not appear for a single hearing for three days and said the court has been “very lenient” towards the former PM.
He expressed his dismay towards Khan’s lawyer, saying that “this kind of behavior cannot be expected from him”. He also rejected the request of Khan’s current lawyer, Barrister Gowhar Ali Khan, to adjourn the court proceedings till Monday.
Responding to the judgement, Barrister Gohar said he was “deeply disturbed by such a judgement” and remarked that the law had been ‘murdered’. He also said that he would challenge the verdict by appealing at ‘higher forums’.
On 10 May, the PTI chairman was convicted in the Toshakhana case by Judge Dilawar, who overruled protests regarding the admissibility of the case.
about the Toshakhana case
The case pertains to the allegation that the former prime minister “deliberately concealed” the details of the gifts he received from the Toshakhana – a storehouse where gifts from unrecognized officials to government officials are kept – during his tenure as prime minister. And disclosed the income deals received from them.
The PTI chief then moved the IHC, which as of June 8 remained the criminal process looking into the issue.
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