The Islamabad High Court on Thursday said it will announce its verdict on Friday on a set of petitions filed by former prime minister Imran Khan against the Toshakhana trial.
Khan, also the chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, has challenged the additional district and sessions court's order terminating his right of defence in the Toshakhana case.
Khan, 70, filed these applications in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) after a trial court last month declared the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) case against him was maintainable.
The IHC on Thursday reserved its verdict on a set of petitions filed by Khan against the Toshakhana trial, the Dawn newspaper reported.
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The pleas in question included the former prime minister's application against the maintainability of a complaint seeking criminal proceedings against him on the charge of hiding Toshakhana gifts and a petition seeking the transfer of the said case to another trial court.
The Toshakhana is a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division and stores precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials by heads of other governments and states and foreign dignitaries.
The Toshakhana issue over the sale of state gifts received by the former cricketer-turned-politician became a major issue in national politics after the Election Commission of Pakistan disqualified Khan for making “false statements and incorrect declaration”.
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The charges were framed against Khan on May 10.
However, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq stayed the proceeding and recently directed Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Humayun Dilawar to re-examine the matter in seven days, keeping in view eight legal questions he framed to decide the maintainability of the Toshakhana case.
However, when the sessions judge re-examined the matter, Khan’s counsel Khawaja Haris did not appear before the court to argue the case in three consecutive hearings.
Finally, on July 9, ADSJ Dilawar while ruling that the case was maintainable, revived the stalled proceedings and summoned the witnesses for testimony.
On Wednesday, Judge Dilawar ruled that Khan had failed to prove the relevance of his witnesses in court and asked the defence counsel to conclude the arguments, or else the court would reserve an order on the complaint.
During the hearing on Thursday, Justice Farooq heard arguments on the petitions by Khan’s lawyers Khawaja Haris and Gohar Khan. ECP counsel Amjad Pervaiz also presented his stance on the matter.
The IHC Chief Justice Farooq then reserved the verdict on the petitions, saying that the judgment will be announced on Friday, the report added.
The lawyer decried that the case was being heard in “haste” and said that it showed “prejudice” in the judiciary.
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Khan is accused of misusing his 2018 to 2022 premiership to buy and sell gifts in state possession that were received during visits abroad and worth more than Rs 140 million (USD 635,000).
The Election Commission of Pakistan on October 21 last year, disqualified the former prime minister in the Toshakhana case for making "false statements and incorrect declaration".
Khan is facing more than 140 cases across the country and faces charges like terrorism, violence, blasphemy, corruption and murder.
Khan was ousted from power in April last year after losing a no-confidence vote, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.
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-With PTI Input
