ISLAMBAD; August 28, 2023: A division bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) has reserved judgment in Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) chairman, Imran Khan, suspending of sentence in Toshakhana case.
The bench, headed by chief justice, Amir Farooq and comprising Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri, heard the petition filed by PTI chairman for suspension of his sentence in Toshakhana case. Latif Khosa and Amjad Pervez appeared before the court on behalf of PTI chairman Imran Khan and Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) respectively.
Amjad Pervez advocate argued in the court that PTI chairman Imran Khan was awarded a 3-year term in jail by a trial court for corruption and misconduct proved in Toshakhana case and hence the plea for suspension of his sentence and release from jail be rejected . He also raised the issue of malicious campaign launched by the official social media platforms of PTI against the judges of IHC during the hearing and said PTI officially promoted a malicious campaign for harassment of the judges to avoid any possible sentence to Imran Khan.
Latif Kaosa, counsel for Imran Khan, argued in support of the petition filed by his client and pleaded to the court to suspend the sentence awarded by a trial court of Islamabad to his client and he should be released from jail. He further argued that his client (Imran Khan) was a former prime minister of Pakistan and a popular political leader of Pakistan and the trial court awarded him 3-year term in jail without fulfilling the principle of merit of the law. Latif Khosa said the decision of the trial court against his client in Toshakhana case was a clear violation of this honourable court also. He pointed out many references wherein the trial court’s judgement were reversed by the high courts for being flawed and against the basic principle of the justice.
After hearing the arguments of both parties, the court reserved the judgement. While reserving the judgement in Toshakhana sentence case, IHC chief justice, gave only a brief observation of “Wait for the order”. However, the counsel for Imran Khan claimed in media talks after the hearing that the staff of IHC chief justice told him that the judgement in the case will be announced tomorrow.
In a separate development, a special court of Islamabad extended physical remand of PTI vice chairman, Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The court ordered the FIA team to present Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the court after two days again.
