IHC admits Imran Khan’s plea for sentence suspension in £190m case

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has accepted a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, seeking the suspension of his sentence in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case, for hearing.

The court has scheduled the formal hearing for March 11, approving the request for an expedited process, Aaj News reported.

A bench, headed by Justice Khadim Soomro, presided over the petitions on Thursday. During the proceedings, defence counsel Salman Safdar contended that several objections raised by the Registrar’s Office were “groundless.”

The counsel noted that the office had initially questioned the validity of an old Wakalatnama (power of attorney), only to accept the same document later. Other technical objections involved improperly flagged pages and incorrect document sequencing.

Justice Khadim, while reviewing the file, questioned why the case had been listed despite these outstanding technicalities. In a light-hearted exchange, the justice remarked that the counsel should “flag the pages” and granted a seven-day window to rectify all remaining clerical errors.

Responding to Safdar’s request that he not be sent back “empty-handed” on his first appearance in this specific matter, the court approved both miscellaneous pleas.

The IHC’s decision to admit the plea marks a significant step in the legal challenges surrounding the Al-Qadir Trust case. A detailed hearing on the merits of the sentence suspension is now set to take place in the second week of March.