Imran Khan approaches Supreme Court against Islamabad High Court order on Toshakhana corruption case

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party chief and former prime minister Imran Khan has petitioned in Supreme Court against the Islamabad High Court's directive to the trial court that had asked for a re-examination of the maintainability of the Toshakhana corruption case within a week.

Khan, 70, was indicted in the Toshakhana corruption case on May 10 by Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar, who rejected objections about the admissibility of the case.

Khan had challenged the admissibility of the case before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) which set aside the verdict of the trial court. The IHC bench had stated that the trial court had dismissed the petition of Khan on weak grounds.

The bench asked the lower court to consider the petition of Khan as pending.

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The trial court’s decision was challenged before the IHC, which remanded the case back to the former on July 4 to re-examine the matter in seven days in the light of eight legal questions to decide the maintainability of the reference, reported The Dawn newspaper.

The fresh petition, brought by Khan before the apex court on Thursday, argued that the IHC was not legally justified in remanding the same questions of law that formed the basis of the impugned order for re-determination by the same trial judge who had already given his judgement.

In the petition, Khan contended the IHC had committed a jurisdiction error in remanding the case to the same trial judge against whom an application had been filed for transfer of the case, the report said.

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Moved through senior counsel Khawaja Haris Ahmad, the petition filed by Khan also sought a stay on the proceedings before Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ), Dilawar, until a decision is made on his appeal by the apex court.

The Toshakhana issue over the sale of state gifts received by the cricketer-turned-politician became a major issue in national politics after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified the former premier for making “false statements and incorrect declaration”.

On October 21 last year, the ECP disqualified Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case under Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution for making “false statements and incorrect declaration”.

Khan is facing more than 140 cases across the country and faces charges like terrorism, violence, blasphemy, corruption and murder since being ousted from power in April last year.

He is also facing a number of cases related to the May 9 anti-government protests following his arrest in a corruption case.

Supporters of Khan attacked several military and government buildings across the country following his arrest. Khan was later released.