ISLAMABAD: A sessions court in Islamabad accepted exemption plea of former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case today.
The Islamabad district and sessions court was hearing Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) reference against Imran Khan for seeking permission to start criminal proceedings against the latter in Toshakhana case.
The court had summoned PTI Chairman Imran Khan in person for his indictment. However, the PTI chief who did not appear before the court during two previous hearings, also didn’t show up today citing his health and security concerns, and sought exemption.
The application was submitted by Mr Khan’s lawyer Gohar Ali Khan and Ali Bukhari as Additional Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal resumed hearing the case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for criminal proceedings against the PTI chief.
At the outset of the hearing, Mr Bukhari submitted the exemption plea on behalf of Imran Khan on medical grounds. He asked the court to fix next hearing of the case after Feb 15 as the PTI chief was scheduled to appear before Judge Rakhshanda Shaheen on that day.
“Provide me a date when Imran Khan will appear before court,” Additional Session Judge Zafar Iqbal told the lawyer as he expressed resentment at non-appearance of the suspect in the case.
Mr Bukhari said his client would attend the hearing if he was allowed by his doctors as he is recovering from bullet wounds in Lahore after an assassination attempt in Wazirabad. He said surety bonds worth Rs20,000 were submitted on Monday for the exemption plea.
The lawyer also told the judge that the ECP had not provided the verified copies of the evidence in the case. Later, the court directed the counsel of the top electoral body to hand over the copies to the PTI lawyer.
After hearing the arguments, the court reserved verdict on Mr Khan’s exemption plea, and after a short while, Judge Zafar Iqbal announced the judgement, accepting Khan’s plea. The court decided that Imran Khan would be indicted on next date of hearing.
