An Islamabad district and sessions court resumed hearing the Toshakhana case against former prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday during which the judge inquired if the PTI chairman would appear in court today after persistent absences.
The 70-year-old ex-premier, who has been recovering from a gunshot injury from an assassination attempt in Wazirabad last year, has thrice skipped indictment hearings in an Islamabad sessions court in the case.
He is accused of concealing, in his assets declarations, details of the gifts he retained from the Toshakhana — a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept.
Imran was set to be indicted in the Toshakhana Reference on Feb 28, but his lawyer had requested Additional District and Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal that he be exempted from the hearing because he had to appear in several other courts. His indictment was deferred twice before.
The judge had then issued arrest warrants for Imran and adjourned the hearing till March 7.
On March 5, an Islamabad police team was sent to Lahore to arrest Imran with the court summons on Sunday. However, it returned empty-handed after the PTI chief evaded the arrest.
Subsequently, Imran had approached the court for the cancellation of the arrest warrants, arguing that the withdrawal of the summons would enable him “a fair opportunity to appear and defend himself” in the case.
However, ADSJ Iqbal rejected his request on Monday and upheld the warrant, ruling that the PTI chairman “wilfully avoided” appearing before the court.
The hearing
As the proceedings resumed today, Imran’s junior lawyer Sardar Masroof Khan appeared in court. Prosecution’s Mohsin Shahnawaz and the Election Commission of Pakistan’s counsel Saad Hassan were also in attendance.
At the outset of the hearing, the judge asked the PTI chief’s lawyer if his client won’t appear in court today as well to which Masroof replied that he was unaware of Imran’s appearance in court.
“But his senior legal team will be arriving by 10am,” he said.
“Do you not have any information regarding Imran’s appearance in court?” ADSJ Iqbal inquired. “Is his guarantor not in court?”
Here, the PTI lawyer said that a notice could not be issued to the guarantor because the legal procedure had yet to be completed.
At that, the judge said that the guarantor was bound to ensure that the former prime minister appeared in court.
For his part, the ECP’s counsel said that the court should be informed in the morning if Imran had plans of appearing before the court. “Why do you waste time?” he added.
Subsequently, the hearing was adjourned for some time.
Toshakhana case
The reference, which alleges that Imran had not shared details of the gifts he retained from the Toshaskhana (during his time as the prime minister) and proceeds from their reported sales, was filed by lawmakers from the ruling coalition last year. On October 21, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had concluded that the former premier had indeed made “false statements and incorrect declarations” regarding the gifts.
The Toshakhana is a department under the Cabinet Division that stores gifts given to rulers and government officials by heads of other governments and foreign dignitaries. According to Toshakhana rules, gifts/presents and other such materials received by persons to whom these rules apply shall be reported to the Cabinet Division.
The watchdog’s order had said Imran stood disqualified under Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution.
Subsequently, the ECP had approached the Islamabad sessions court with a copy of the reference, seeking proceedings against Imran under criminal law for allegedly misleading officials about the gifts he received from foreign dignitaries during his tenure as the prime minister.