ISLAMABAD, DEC 06 (DNA) — The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday upheld former prime minister and PTI ex-chairman Imran Khan’s disqualification by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in Toshakhana case, disposing of his plea to suspend his sentence in the case.
Pronouncing the reserved verdict, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq read out the short order on the case. A detailed verdict will be released later. The court also rejected Imran Khan’s plea to withdraw his application challenging his disqualification in the Toshakhana case.
On October 21, 2022, the electoral watchdog, in a consensus verdict, had disqualified the former prime minister under Article 63(1)(p) and ruled that the PTI founder was no more a member of the National Assembly. He was disqualified for making “false statements and incorrect declaration”.
The ECP had stated that Imran submitted a false affidavit and was found involved in corrupt practices under Article 63(1)(p). The decision was taken unanimously by the electoral authority’s five-member bench.
The deposed prime minister challenged his disqualification in the IHC, praying to the court to set aside the judgment as what he said the ECP had no jurisdiction over the matter. In the meantime, a separate petition was filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) against Imran’s disqualification.
The petition challenged the ECP’s relevant section under which Imran was disqualified. Initially, the petitioner did not apprise the IHC about his second plea file in the LHC over the same matter. Later, the PTI founder requested the IHC to allow him to withdraw his plea as he reportedly wanted the LHC to proceed with the case.
After hearing the arguments from all sides, the IHC reserved its verdict on September 13, 2023. The court will announce its reserved judgment on Wednesday (tomorrow). In August 2022, then National Assembly speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf had sent a reference to the ECP under Articles 62A, 63A, and 223, seeking Imran Khan’s disqualification in the light of the Toshakhana scam.
The disqualification reference was filed by Ali Gohar Khan, PML-N’s Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha, and five others. The 28-page reference identified 52 gift items of Toshakhana received by ex-PM Imran Khan, violating the law and rules, taken away at nominal prices and most of the gifts were sold in the market, including some precious watches.
The assessed value of the gifts has been put at Rs142,042,100. The gifts were received between August 2018 and December 2021. According to Mohsin Ranjha, Imran Khan had concealed information about the gift of watches by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in his statement of assets submitted in 2018-2019.
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