Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Tuesday approached the Supreme Court for a second time, seeking nullification of his conviction in the Toshakhana case.
The party had earlier submitted the same plea last week, but it was returned by the registrar’s office, which objected to some incomplete documents. In its order, the registrar’s office had said the PTI could refile the petition by Jan. 6 after completing all documents and removing the objections.
Filed by Sardar Latif Khosa—who is also a PTI ticket-holder for the upcoming general elections—under Article 185 of the Constitution, the petition challenges an Islamabad High Court (IHC) order from earlier this month. In its ruling, the IHC had rejected a similar plea for lacking necessary requirements, including the absence of actual controversies or a chronology of past litigation. The fresh petition argues that the petitioner moved an application for suspension of the three-year sentence with the main appeal, which was heard by the IHC in August.
The former prime minister was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 100,000 by Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar on Aug. 5, 2023 after being found guilty of graft in the Toshakhana case. As a consequence, Khan was also disqualified from holding any public office for five years under the Elections Act, 2017. The PTI has also already expressed a desire for Khan to contest the upcoming polls, requiring his conviction to be set aside.
Earlier this month, the IHC dismissed Khan’s plea for a nullification of the trial court’s verdict. In his petition, the PTI leader had sought the suspension or nullification of the verdict, as his sentence was already suspended. It had contended he was being denied his fundamental right to contest elections.
The Toshakhana case pertains to allegations that Khan misused his time in the Prime Minister’s Office to buy and sell state gifts without disclosing their proceeds in his tax records.