Islamabad, Dec 6: A Pakistani high court on Wednesday rejected former premier Imran Khan’s plea to withdraw his appeal against his disqualification in the Toshakhana corruption case, on a day when the election watchdog announced to conduct an in-prison hearing of a contempt case against him.
Khan, 71, has been in jail since August 5, when he was arrested after a conviction in the Toshakhana case. He was disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on October 21 in the case for failing to disclose the proceeds from the sale of gifts he got from the Toshakhana (state repository). The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PIT) party leader approached the Islamabad High Court Chief (IHC) against the electoral body’s decision, contending that he had purchased the assets legally; hence, there was no reason for him not to mention the gifts in his assets statement. However, on January 18, the PTI filed a fresh plea in the IHC to withdraw the petition, saying the cricketer-turned-politician wanted the Lahore High Court (LHC) to hear the matter. A separate petition had been filed in the LHC against Khan’s disqualification. A division bench of the IHC comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri announced the verdict, which was reserved on September 13, rejecting Khan’s request to withdraw his petition against disqualification in the case.
Contempt case proceedings against Imran Khan
Pakistan’s election commission on Wednesday decided that contempt case proceedings against former prime minister Imran Khan and his party colleague Fawad Chaudhry will take place on December 13 at the high-security Adiala jail.
Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party, and Chaudhry are both currently incarcerated in multiple cases at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi. The decision to hold the trial inside the jail comes a day after the ECP reserved its verdict on a petition that was filed to remove Khan as the head of his PTI party due to his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case. On Wednesday, the Dawn newspaper said, “The ECP issued its verdict in light of the Interior Ministry’s denial to produce the former premier before the Commission during the last hearing, citing security concerns.” (PTI)
