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Farooq Naeem—AFPA two-member bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s plea for a stay on proceedings of the trial into the Toshakhana scandal.
During proceedings, Justice Yahya Afridi observed that the apex court would not interfere in the trial court’s matters in the Toshakhana case. The PTI chief’s lawyer, however, argued that there were multiple petitions related to the jurisdiction of the trial court and transfer of the Toshakhana case pending before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) already and his client had therefore sought relief from the apex court.
At this, Justice Afridi said the court would direct the IHC to club together Khan’s pending petitions and hear them together. He further noted that it was not the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction to hear the present petition when related petitions were sub-judice in the IHC.
“Court’s jurisdiction is a major issue, it should be decided first,” he remarked.
Currently there are four petitions concerning the Toshakhana case pending before the IHC. The first concerns the trial court’s orders for expedited hearings; two challenge the trial court’s jurisdiction to hear the Toshakhana case; and a fourth has sought a transfer of the case on the basis of the judge’s alleged bias. The IHC had already denied Khan’s plea seeking a stay order on proceedings in the Toshakhana case.
The Tosakhana case concerns an Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ruling from Oct. 21 in which it had disqualified the former prime minister under Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution for making “false statements and incorrect declaration.” The matter was subsequently forwarded to a trial court, where it remained pending until May due to continuous non-appearance of Khan.
Khan appeared before the court for the first time in May while he was in custody for the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case. The court rejected his petition challenging the maintainability of the reference and also indicted him. The PTI chief maintains he has not committed any wrongdoing.
After the indictment, the PTI chief challenged the trial court’s decision before the IHC, which sent the case back to the trial court for re-examination within a span of seven days. On July 8, the trial court concluded that the ECP’s petition was maintainable and proceeded further against the former premier, who then approached the apex court for relief.