Toshakhana case: Lahore court to hear Imran Khan’s plea on Wednesday

A Pakistani court last week scheduled a hearing for the Toshakhana corruption case against former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday (12).

The plea was filed through Senator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, and the hearing will be held by a five-member bench of the Lahore High Court, led by Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan.

According to the Dawn newspaper, the petition argues that the exercise of jurisdiction by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) based on an alleged incorrect statement of assets and the resulting disqualification was illegal and violated the Constitution. This hearing is highly anticipated.

The court will resume the hearing on Wednesday and allow both parties in the ongoing case to present their arguments, it said.

Khan, 70, the chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, has been in the crosshairs for buying gifts, including an expensive Graff wristwatch he had received as the premier at a discounted price from the state depository called Toshakhana, and selling them for profit.

He was disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan in October last year for not sharing details of the sales.

The election body later filed a complaint with the district court to punish him, under criminal laws, for selling the gifts he had received as prime minister of the country.

Khan has vehemently denied those charges.

Intense clashes erupted outside the judicial complex in Islamabad on March 18 when Khan arrived from Lahore to attend a much-awaited hearing in the Toshakhana case.

Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, was ousted from power in April last year after losing a no-confidence vote, becoming the first Pakistani prime minister to be voted out by the National Assembly.

Since his ouster, he has been demanding snap polls in the country to remove what he termed an “imported government” led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

(PTI)