ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court on Monday rejected a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan seeking exemption from appearing before the court in the Toshakhana case.
Last week, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended the non-bailable arrest warrant for the former premier issued by the local court due to Khan’s continuous absence.
The IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq accepted the PTI chief’s plea against Additional Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal’s judgement and directed Khan to ensure his appearance before the lower court on March 13.
Today’s hearing
At the outset of today’s hearing, the PTI chief’s legal team again sought an exemption from appearance in the hearing, citing security threats, and also filed a request to be discharged Khan the case.
Judge Iqbal heard the case and reserved the verdict till 3:15 pm today on the plea filed by Khan’s counsel Khawaja Haris.
“It’s not that Khan is deliberately not appearing before the court. He has security threats,” said the lawyer.
Haris also filed an application seeking to declare the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) complaint against Khan as “non-maintainable”.
The sessions court had ordered the PTI chief to appear before it for his indictment in the case. However, Khan’s lawyer said that the PTI chief will not appear before the courts today.
He said that it should be decided if the case is admissible before issuing an arrest warrant, adding that no legal requirements were taken into account while filing a complaint against Khan.
“The ECP did not file a complaint against Imran Khan but the district election commissioner did,” he stated, adding that it was instructed in the complaint were to take action against the former premier.
Haris said that the high court had suspended the warrant till today (March 13, 2023) and directed to continue the proceedings as per law.
While presenting his arguments, ECP’s lawyer Saad Hasan said that the main debate revolves around Khan’s arrest warrant.
He said, “If the court thinks that the complaint is inadmissible then there is no issue in that.”
Hasan said that the IHC’s suspension of the warrant expired today, adding that Khan was directed before the high court to appear before the court today.
The sessions court should check if the warrant is implementable, he added.
Meanwhile, Khan’s counsel stated that there was no reason to take criminal action against the former prime minister.
He added if the election commission has to present arguments regarding the admissibility of the complaint then all the previous hearings would become illegal.
