A single bench of the Lahore High Court has sent former PTI chairman Imran Khan’s petition against the ECP contempt proceedings and his jail trial to the full bench for hearing. LHC Justice Alia Neelam on Monday heard the petition of the PTI founder Imran Khan who filed his plea through advocate Ishtiaq A Khan. During the hearing, Justice Neelam remarked that several issues have been raised in the petition. Advocate Ishtiaq said that they have mainly challenged the issue of jail trial. The judge inquired in how many cases, the jail trial of the PTI founder is being conducted. The lawyer replied that there were notifications of jail trial by the Ministry of Interior in cases related to cipher disappearance and Al-Qadir Trust.

The court inquired whether he had attached all the records with the application. The lawyer replied in negative. He said he would attach the record and requested the court to give the next date for the case hearing tomorrow as the petitioner would be indicted in the ECP contempt proceedings the day after tomorrow. The judge disagreed with the lawyer remarking that this case needs to be heard by a full court. She remarked that if an order is made in one case, what would be the effect on the others? The court directed the application of the former prime minister to be presented before the full bench for hearing and to attach all the notification records with the application. Later, the court referred the petition to the LHC chief justice for forwarding it to the full bench.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)