ISLAMABAD: A local court Tuesday rejected the Election Commission of Pakistan’s plea seeking an early hearing of Toshakhana case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.
The additional sessions judge, Zafar Iqbal, while announcing its reserved verdict, dismissed the ECP’s petition seeking an early hearing of the Toshakhana case. The hearing of the case will be held on April 29.
PTI chief Khan’s lawyers, Khawaja Haris and Faisal Chaudhry, and ECP’s counsel Amjad Pervaiz appeared before the court.
At the start of the hearing, the police submitted an implementation report of the summons notice issued to the PTI chief.
During the hearing, Haris told the court that there was no need for an early hearing and termed it a waste of resources. The date of the hearing was fixed as per their will but after going to home they started thinking about an early hearing, he said.
ECP counsel Pervaiz replied that the date was not fixed “as per our will and we had only requested for adjournment of the case for only two days”.
Haris argued that an application for an early hearing cannot be filed in this case as this is a criminal case. What are their objectives, as they wanted to keep out Imran Khan from the elections? He said. He said that the ECP is a constitutional body and its job is to hold a free and fair election and not to keep people away from elections.
He further said that seeking an early hearing of the Toshakhana case by the ECP shows its mala fide. His client is facing security issues and a case regard is under trial in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) but they want to create a law and order situation, he said.
Haris against that the date of hearing of Toshakhana case was fixed as per their will. Our will was not included in the fixing ofa date for the hearing of the Toshakhana case, Pervaiz said, adding that Haris was requested for 15 days, and then the date of hearing of the case was fixed on April 29 at the request of Faisal Chaudhry.
He further argued that the ECP had also filed a private complaint against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Ali Haider Gillani. Despite the passage of one year charge has not been framed in Gillani case, he said, adding that what is important in Imran Khan’s case due to which the ECP shows more interest in it. The ECP has not filed an application for an early hearing in Gillani’s case, he said.
Khan’s lawyer said that the ECP did not want that his client becomes a member of the parliament. Why was discriminatory treatment being meted out with Khan in the Toshakhana case, he questioned. Efforts to fix Toshakhana case for an early hearing would be tantamount to interference in the trial, he said.
The PTI chief’s counsel requested the court to reject the ECP’s application seeking an early hearing of the case.
The ECP’s counsel said that if you are terming an ECP request for an early hearing it is mala fide then the ECP has the option of summary trial but it did not use it. “If ECP intends to do mala fide then we could have used the option of summary trial”, he said.
He further said that this court had passed many orders but we did not challenge these orders at a higher forum. The trial of the case is to be complete within three months but despite the passage of a long time so far charge has not been framed in this case, he said.
The commission’s counsel said that the cases against the PTI chief and Gillani are of different natures. The district election commissioner has the authority to file private complaints, he said, adding that bribery and non-disclosure of assets are cases of two different natures.
Pervaiz requested the court to set an early date for the hearing of the case and decide the case. After the court’s verdict the aggrieved party will challenge it at the higher forum, he said.
The court after hearing arguments reserved the verdict for some time. Later, while announcing its verdict rejected the ECP’s petition.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023