The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) and banking court in Islamabad summoned PTI chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Wednesday for separate in-person hearings in cases pertaining to a protest outside the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) following its decision in the Toshakhana case and prohibited funding, respectively.
In both cases, Imran’s lawyers sought exemption from court appearances on medical grounds. However, their pleas were rejected.
The PTI chief has been convalescing in his Zaman Park residence in Lahore ever since he was wounded in an assassination attempt during a pitstop his caravan made in Wazirabad while they were marching on Islamabad.
So far, the ex-premier has not appeared before either of the courts.
ATC summons Imran at 1:30pm
During the hearing today at the ATC today, Judge Raja Jawad Abbas Hassan rejected Imran’s request for exemption from appearance — in a case pertaining to a protest outside the ECP in the Toshakhana case — on medical grounds.
“Imran Khan should appear in court by 1:30pm,” he ordered.
At the previous hearing, the court had granted the PTI chief the last opportunity to appear on Feb 15.
On October 21, the ECP had concluded that the former premier had indeed made “false statements and incorrect declarations” regarding the gifts.
The Toshakhana is a department under the Cabinet Division that stores gifts given to rulers and government officials by heads of other governments and foreign dignitaries. According to Toshakhana rules, gifts/presents and other such materials received by persons to whom these rules apply shall be reported to the Cabinet Division.
The watchdog’s order had said Imran stood disqualified under Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution. The verdict sparked protests outside ECP offices across the country.
At the outset of the hearing today, Imran’s lawyer Babar Awan said that he wanted to present some arguments in the case and then proceeded to read out the FIR registered against his client.
“The case against Imran was registered on the violation of Section 144,” he pointed out, arguing that in the view of the ATC, this was not a terrorism case.
“The court has already approved bails of other persons named in the case,” Awan contended. He requested that terrorism charges from the FIR should be removed.
At that, the judge said that the court was currently hearing Imran’s bail plea.
“Is the violation of Section 144 also punishable,” Imran’s lawyer asked here, adding that the additional sessions judge had granted Imran interim bail till Feb 27.
“I request the court to extend my client’s bail till then as well. Imran tried to travel but he couldn’t,” he said.
Awan went on to say that Imran “has never run away from court or the country” and appealed for a last chance. “I am ready to submit surety bonds worth Rs10,000.”
The lawyer then requested the court for time to consult Imran regarding the matter after which the hearing was adjourned till 2:30pm.
Appear before 3:30pm or law will take its course: banking court
Earlier, an Islamabad banking court also rejected Imran’s exemption request in the prohibited funding case against his party and instructed him to appear before the judge in person today.
“Imran Khan should appear in the court before 3:30pm today,” Special Judge Banking Court Rakhshanda Shaheen said.
“If he fails to do so, the law will take its course,” she added.
Last year, the ECP had issued its verdict in the prohibited funding case — previously referred to as the foreign funding case — against the PTI, which stated that the party did indeed receive prohibited funding.
In the verdict, the commission noted that the party “knowingly and willfully” received funding from Wootton Cricket Limited, operated by business tycoon Arif Naqvi. The party was a “willing recipient” of prohibited money of $2,121,500, it said.
The ECP said that the party “knowingly and willfully” also received donations from Bristol Engineering Services (a UAE-based company), E-Planet Trustees (a Cayman Islands private registered company), SS Marketing Manchester (a UK-based private company), PTI USA LLC-6160 and PTI USA LLC-5975 which were “hit by prohibition and in violation of Pakistani laws”.
Subsequently, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had registered a case naming Imran, Sardar Azhar Tariq Khan, Saifullah Khan Nyazee, Syed Yunus Ali Raza, Aamer Mehmood Kiani, Tariq Rahim Sheikh, Tariq Shafi, Faisal Maqbool Shaikh, Hamid Zaman and Manzoor Ahmad Chaudhary as signatories/beneficiaries of the PTI account in question.
At the previous hearing, the court had rejected the former premier’s request for a virtual hearing and instructed him to appear in person on Feb 15. Imran had then approached the Islamabad High Court with a request for virtual proceedings.
As the proceeding commenced today, Imran’s lawyer Barrister Salman Safdar submitted a request in court seeking an exemption from an in-person hearing. He said that a similar petition had been filed in the IHC as well.
“I have medical evidence to back my request,” he said. “If you [the court] accept my request, I won’t go to the high court.”
At that, the judge observed that the PTI had appealed the banking court’s order. “You have challenged my order … you should definitely go to the high court,” Judge Shaheeb said.
Subsequently, Safdar began presenting his arguments in the case.
“I will put forward a brief request. I don’t want to step into the high court against you. I want you to listen to us here with an open mind,” he said.
He stated that Imran Khan was more than 70 years old. “He is fit because of regular exercise but he is above 70 years.
“Even if a youngster is shot, it takes them more than three months for recovery … Imran has even been exempted from biometric verification because of his age,” the lawyer argued and requested the court to grant his client a three-week exemption from an in-person appearance.
Safdar also submitted the PTI chief’s x-rays in court.
“Now that we all are becoming doctors, you can check these reports. We are just asking for three weeks so that Imran can stand without support.”
He added that if the court was not willing to listen to his request, then it had to write that Imran’s medical reports were incorrect. “It should also be written that Imran was not shot.”
Here, the judge asked if the IHC had issued any orders pertaining to the request yet to which FIA special prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi said that no such order had been released.
“In fact, an objection was raised on their petition,” he said.
The prosecutor, while presenting his arguments, contended why Imran had never visited a government hospital.
“Imran Khan does not have any serious problems. It is just a minor sprain and inflammation in his leg,” he said, adding that an exemption from an in-person hearing could not be granted on these grounds.
Here, the judge instructed the PTI chief to appear in the court today.
More to follow
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