The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday said it would announce at 11am tomorrow its reserved verdict on PTI Chairman Imran Khan\u2019s plea seeking the suspension of a three-year jail term sentenced to the ex-premier in the Toshakhana case.<\/p>\n
The court reserved its verdict today on the PTI chief\u2019s plea after the Election Commission of Pakistan\u2019s (ECP) counsel concluded his arguments.<\/p>\n
On August 5, a trial court in Islamabad had convicted the PTI chief in the case filed by the ECP that involved concealing details of state gifts and jailed him for three years. The verdict meant he was disqualified from contesting general elections for five years.<\/p>\n
Imran had subsequently filed an appeal in the high court against his conviction. He had also approached the Supreme Court (SC) against the IHC\u2019s decision to remand the case back to the trial court judge who had convicted him.<\/p>\n
Last week, however, the SC had acknowledged \u201cprocedural defects\u201d in Imran\u2019s conviction but had opted to wait for the IHC decision on Imran\u2019s plea. The court\u2019s observations had drawn the ire of the Pakistan Bar Council, which said there should be no \u201cinterference\u201d in matters pending before the subordinate judiciary.<\/p>\n
At the previous IHC hearing, the court had adjourned the case due to the absence of the ECP lawyer, Advocate Amjad Pervaiz. It had led Imran\u2019s counsel, Advocate Latif Khosa, to express his dissatisfaction with the court, saying he would not appear at the next hearing.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, who was presiding over the hearing and in whom the PTI chief has expressed a lack of confidence, had asserted he would decide on the matter today \u201ceven if no one appears\u201d.<\/p>\n
Today, a division bench comprising Justice Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri presided over the hearing while both parties\u2019 counsels, Khosa and Pervaiz, were also present in the courtroom.<\/p>\n
During his arguments, the ECP lawyer urged the IHC to issue a notice to the state to make it a respondent in the case as, he said, the law made it necessary.<\/p>\n
When Pervaiz concluded his arguments, Khosa said he did not have any objections to the ECP counsel\u2019s plea to issue a notice to the state but also said it \u201cshould not be done\u201d at this stage of the case.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, the court reserved its verdict on the case and said it would announce it at 11am tomorrow (Tuesday).<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, while the hearing was under way, the Islamabad Police said it was \u201calways ready to deal with any untoward incident during the hearing of important cases\u201d at the IHC.<\/p>\n
It requested the public to \u201ccooperate with the policemen on duty and to identify themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday said it would announce at 11am tomorrow its reserved verdict on PTI Chairman Imran Khan\u2019s plea seeking the suspension of a three-year jail term sentenced to the ex-premier in the Toshakhana case. The court reserved its verdict today on the PTI chief\u2019s plea after the Election Commission of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-352191","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n