LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has adjourned the hearing of a plea by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s move to strip him of his party chairmanship after his disqualification in the Toshakhana reference.
The larger bench headed by Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan issued the order that the plea will be heard after Eid ul Fitr.
As proceedings commenced on Wednesday, the PTI chairman’s counsel barrister Ali Zafar informed the court that he was ready to initiate his arguments. The ECP’s lawyer argued that Islamabad High Court had already fixed 19 April on a similar petition pending.
He objected to not making the National Assembly speaker a respondent.
To this, bench’s member Justice Shahik Karim remarked that making the speaker a respondent was unnecessary. The bench also said that the roster would be changed after the Eid vacations, and one of the current judges might not be a part of the bench.
Lahore High Court’s order in January
In January, the Lahore High Court’s single bench headed by Justice Jawad Hassan barred the electoral body from removing Imran Khan as the chief of PTI in pursuance of the ruling issued in the Toshakhana case. The court issued the order after it accepted the former premier’s petition against the ECP notice that barred him from rendering as party chairman. The court then issued notices to the ECP and the attorney general of Pakistan.
It is to be noted that ECP, on 5 December 2022, had started the process to remove Imran Khan as the PTI chief in the light of its decision in the Toshakhana reference.
The election Commission on 13 December 2022, also informed the Islamabad High Court that it had started proceedings to remove Imran Khan from the post of party chairman. The ECP initiated the proceedings against the deposed premier after disqualifying him from his Mianwali seat in National Assembly in October in the Toshakhana reference.
After that, on 4 January, the petitioner approached the Lahore High Court against the Election Commission’s proceedings, arguing that the exercise of jurisdiction by the Election Commission based on an alleged incorrect statement of assets and disqualification was unlawful and contrary to the law and Constitution.
Before the single bench of the Lahore High Court, Imran Khan’s lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar had contended that the electoral body did not have the authority to sack someone from the position of party chairman.
In that proceeding, Nasar Ahmad, Additional Attorney General, had said that the petitioner concealed the facts of the pendency of his petition on the same matter before the IHC, wherein notices were given, and interim relief was also granted to him.
The remark irritated Barrister Zafar, who pointed out that the fact about the proceedings before the Islamabad High Court was mentioned in the petition filed in the Lahore High Court.
However, Justice Hassan remarked that since important Constitutional Articles and provisions of the Election Act 2017 needed interpretation, he thought it fit to refer the issue to the Lahore High Court’s Chief Justice for forming a larger bench.
![NEW YORK: Pakistan's former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, leading Pakistan’s high-level parliamentary delegation, on Tuesday warned that India's aggressive actions pose a serious threat to peace in South Asia and urged the international community to take note of India's aggressive conduct. Bilawal was addressing a press conference at the United Nations headquarters in New York on recent regional developments after the military conflict between India and Pakistan. The Pakistani delegation is in New York to present Pakistan’s stance on the military escalation with India and to challenge New Delhi’s narrative at the global level. The visit is part of Pakistan’s sustained diplomatic outreach to brief key UN stakeholders on the alarming regional situation. The Pakistani delegation is also scheduled to arrive in Washington today, where it plans to engage with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, other senior officials, lawmakers, and think tanks till June 6. The team will also visit London and Brussels. Speaking at the press conference, Bilawal said that he wanted to use the opportunity to share Pakistan’s perspective on the recent military conflict with India in the wake of the Pahalgam attack and the way forward. Bilawal said that the “illegal strikes” launched by India as part of its ‘Operation Sindoor’ were “in violation of the UN Charter, international law”. He said the attacks had targeted civilian infrastructure, places of worship, energy infrastructure and innocent women and children. He said India had used the April 22 terrorist attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s (IIOJK) Pahalgam as a pretext to launch the attack inside Pakistan. Following the Pahalgam incident, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered publicly to India that Pakistan was ready to be part of any impartial international investigation into this attack. “We did so because we were confident, our hands were clean and we had nothing to do with this terrorist attack. “We expressed our sympathy with the victims of terrorism and Pakistan has consistently and unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” he said, adding that PM Sharif had immediately expressed Pakistan’s willingness to India and the global community to be part of any impartial international investigation. “Indian government refused Pakistan's offer and chose instead to conduct their illegal strikes. Pakistan only then acted in self-defence, we never initiated any violence against India,” Bilawal said. Bilawal emphasised that Pakistan never initiated hostilities against India but responded to Indian aggression by downing six Indian fighter jets. "The Pakistani military had responded with precision the night of the first Indian attack and only targeted and downed six planes because we believed those were the ones to release their load on Pakistan”. He stated that US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio played a vital role in achieving a ceasefire during heightened tensions between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours. “We’ve seen during the course of this conflict how quickly the escalation ladder between our two countries rose and the concern is that the next time there is such an incident, there may not be time for the international community to intervene before things get a lot worse. That is why it is absolutely important for Pakistan and the international community to continue to pursue dialogue and diplomacy as the only viable path to peace.” He said Pakistan’s position was to hold a “comprehensive dialogue” with India that would include the issue of terrorism as well. The head of the Pakistani delegation said that no civilized nation can support the use of water as a weapon and urged the international community to play its part, questioning, "What would be the global reaction if someone’s lifeline was cut off?" He stressed that Pakistan has paid a heavy price in the fight against terrorism and has suffered the most. “The single largest number of terrorist attacks that take place in any one country is Pakistan. The single largest number of victims of terrorism is Pakistan. I myself have suffered at the hands of terrorists. My mother [Benazir Bhutto] was assassinated by the terrorists.” Bilawal also criticised India for targeting water reservoirs and civilian areas, including mosques, during its attacks. Calling negotiations the only path to peace, Bilawal reiterated that the unresolved Kashmir dispute remains the root cause of regional instability. He urged the global community to take notice of India’s aggressive conduct.](https://wenewsenglish.com/storage/2025/06/Bilawal-Bhutto-Zardari-300x180.jpg)
