IHC deems Toshakhana case against PTI chief ‘inadmissible’

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared on Tuesday the Toshakhana case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan inadmissible, and ruled that the trial court should decide on the former prime minister’s plea within 7 days.

The development comes after a trial court had rejected Imran’s petition seeking to have the Toshakhana case declared inadmissible.

However, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq on Tuesday annulled this decision and ordered that the PTI counsel’s arguments be heard again and reconsidered by the trial court.

Imran seeks recusal of Justice Farooq

On Monday, Imran had filed a petition through Barrister Gohar Khan, saying that the arguments in the cases were yet to be completed as he sought the recusal of Justice Farooq from the bench on the grounds of “fair hearing, unbiased tribunal, access to justice and impartial proceedings”.

The petition said that Imran believed he would not get “fair and impartial” justice from the bench. It further stated that the writ petition against the ECP was pending and its withdrawal was not decided yet, forcing the applicant to face the trial before the additional sessions judge without it being decided whether the electoral body could have filed such a case in the first place.

It added, “It is in the knowledge of this court that numerous FIRs were filed against the applicant and the applicant sought “appearance through video link” and despite extreme urgency, the matter was not decided to date.”

On May 10, a local court had indicted the former PM in the Toshakhana case. The case then went through multiple hearings until June 23, when the IHC reserved his verdict on whether the case against Imran and his indictment were maintainable.

Last year in October, the Election Commission of Pakistan had disqualified Imran from his parliamentary membership for filing “false” and “incorrect declaration” in his statement of assets and liabilities for the year 2020-21 filed with the electoral entity.

Background

Established in 1974, the Tosha­khana is a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division and stores precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials by heads of other governments and states and foreign dignitaries.

Lawmakers from the ruling coalition had filed a reference last year against Imran alleging that he had not shared details of the gifts he retained from the Toshakhana and proceeds from their reported sales.