A district and sessions court in the federal capital on Wednesday granted one-day exemption from appearance to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case. Additional Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar approved the petition while hearing the case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the former prime minister over concealing gifts he received from the Toshakhana.

At the outset of the hearing, Mr Chaudhry requested the judge to adjourn the hearing of the case without any proceedings till May 5 as lead counsel Khawaja Harris was not available. He also filed a plea seeking exemption for Imran Khan in today’s hearing, stating that there were security threats to his client’s life. The judge remarked that the PTI chief could attend the hearing through video-link if he was unable to come to Islamabad. A lawyer of ECP said the electoral body had announced its verdict in October last and since then there was no development in the case.

After hearing arguments, Judge Dilawar approved the exemption plea and summoned arguments on the admissibility of the ECP case on May 5. Last year, a reference was filed against him by lawmakers from the ruling coalition accusing him of not sharing the details of gifts he retained from Toshakhana in his assets declarations and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had concluded in October last year that the PTI chief filed false statements regarding the gifts.The electoral watchdog subsequently disqualified him for being dishonest and corrupt and approached the district and sessions court seeking criminal proceedings against Imran Khan for allegedly misleading officials about the gifts.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP