Pakistan: SC to hear Imran Khan’s plea in Toshakhana case today

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan will take up former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s plea against the trial court hearing in the Toshakhana case, Dawn reported on Wednesday. The matter is expected to be taken by the three-judge bench, according to Dawn.

Notably, Imran Khan approached the apex court on Monday against the Islamabad High Court’s decision of not granting a stay on the trial court’s proceedings. In his application, Khan contended all the pending petitions before the IHC would become ineffective if the judge hearing the Toshakhana case proceeded with recording his statement under Section 342, since no stay had been granted by the high court against the challenges to the jurisdiction of the trial court, according to Dawn.

The Toshakhana-related complaint was filed under the Election Act 2017, and Khan was summoned to appear in person.

The former premier was required to record his statement under Section 342 of the CrPC.A Subsequently, two applications were filed on legal points highlighting that the complaints were time-barred, that the complaint was filed without any authorisation, and that it could not be entertained directly and should have come through the magistrate, Dawn reported.

The Toshakhana reference filed by lawmakers from the ruling coalition alleges that Imran Khan did not disclose the details of the gifts he retained from the Toshakhana during his tenure as Pakistan's Prime Minister. According to the judgement, Imran Khan was found to be involved in corrupt practices under sections 167 and 173 of the constitution.

The ECP in its judgement of the reference said, "His disqualification under Article 63, 1(P) has been for his current parliament membership”, the ECP said in its 36-page detailed judgment of the reference," according to ARY News report. The ECP's decision reads, "The amount in his bank account was around half of the value of the state gifts. Imran Khan was bound to declare the cash and bank details in his returns but he didn’t declare it," ARY News reported.

Following this, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on March 9 began a probe against Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case.