An Islamabad district and sessions court on Saturday declared a criminal complaint against former premier Imran Khan for concealing details of Toshakana gifts to be maintainable.
Additional Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar announced the verdict that was reserved earlier as he heard the PTI chief’s plea challenging the maintainability of the said complaint sent to the trial court by the Election Commission of Pakistan. The case accused him of concealing details of state gifts.
Setting July 12 as the date for the next hearing, the court has summoned the witnesses for testimony that day, which will initiate the trial proceedings against the former premier.
Earlier this week, the Islamabad High Court had overturned the ruling of a sessions court wherein it had rejected the PTI chief’s petition to declare the Toshkhana case inadmissible.
Earlier Saturday, Imran sought an exemption from attending the hearing, which was objected to by ECP counsel Saad Hasan.
The PTI chief’s counsel, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, then requested the court to adjourn the hearing till July 10, citing security concerns.
In response, Judge Dilawar remarked that Imran’s counsel, Khawaja Haris had not appeared in “even a single hearing” during the past three days. The judge asserted that the court had been very lenient towards the suspect.
When the hearing resumed after a break, ECP counsel Amjad Pervaiz appeared in the court along with Barrister Gohar. The ECP lawyer recalled an Islamabad High Court order to “make a decision within a week”.
He proceeded to read out aloud the IHC order and informed the court about its directions to the trial court to resume hearing the PTI chief’s petition.
The ECP lawyer argued that an ECP officer had filed the Toshakhana case’s complaint as per Section 190 of the Elections Act 2017, which he said gave the right to file a complaint and the court had the authority to hear the case.
“Forget the ECP’s verdict — everyone has the right to lodge a complaint in the court,” Pervaiz said.
He further informed the court that a copy of the ECP’s verdict and file had been given to the PTI chairman. The lawyer argued that the commission’s “authority letter proved that the ECP directed for a complaint to be lodged”.
