The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday returned to the trial court a petition of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan seeking to have the Toshakhana case against him declared as “inadmissible.”
Issuing a short order that had been reserved on June 24, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq directed the trial court to listen to the arguments of the PTI chief’s counsel and reconsider whether or not the case was admissible. “The trial court should decide on the PTI chairman’s plea in the Toshakhana case in 7 days,” read the ruling.
Khan was indicted in the Toshakhana case on May 10 after Additional Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar, rejected his counsel’s objections on the admissibility of the case. He had then approached the IHC for relief, which had stayed criminal proceedings in the case until June 8. After hearing arguments, the IHC CJ had reserved his verdict, saying he would conclude the matter after Eidul Azha. Ahead of the issuance of the ruling, on Monday, the PTI chief’s counsel had filed a petition seeking the recusal of Justice Farooq from cases related to the Toshakhana, accusing him of bias and suggesting he did not trust the CJ to accord him a “fair and impartial” trial.
The petition filed by Khan had argued that the complaint against him in the Toshakhana case was filed over four months after he submitted his tax returns, and as such was inadmissible.
While it has yet to be determined whether the trial court would agree to the PTI’s claims of the matter being inadmissible, Khan’s lawyer Gohar Khan has already declared “victory” in an interaction with media outside the IHC. “An appeal was filed against the decision of the session judge in the Toshakhana case,” he said, adding that the wrong person filed the complaint.
The Toshakhana case alleges that Khan—during his time as prime minister—retained gifts at below-market rates and sold them for profits that he did not accurately declare in his tax returns. The matter was taken up by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last year, which declared that Khan stood disqualified from public office under Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution.
The ECP then moved the Islamabad sessions court seeking criminal proceedings against Khan, which were prolonged over Khan’s refusal to attend hearings, preventing the court from indicting him.