IHC reserves its verdict on the admissibility of petitions against jail trial of Imran Khan in Toshakhana & £190 milon NAB references

ISLAMABAD, Jan 18 (SABAH): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday reserved its verdict on the admissibility of petitions against the jail trial of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan in the Toshakhana and £190 million NAB references.

The petitions seeking annulment of Imran Khan’s jail trial in the two cases were heard by IHC judges Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, with PTI counsel Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa representing the former premier.

Larif Khosa, while reading out the jail trial notifications and giving reference to multiple court verdicts stated that they have challenged the two notifications regarding the Toshakhana and Al-Qadir Trust case jail trials. He added that one of their petitions was allotted a number, while the other was not.

On Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb’s question about approaching the court weeks after the notification issued in November 2023, Khosa replied that the reference against Imran Khan was filed on December 20; which led to the discovery that a daily trial was being conducted.

“A division bench gave a short judgment of annulling the cypher jail trial on November 21, with no order being issued in this regard by any judge,” the judge added.

Khosa, agreeing to Justice Aurangzeb’s remarks, stated that the trial then commenced after the court verdict.

The judge stated that they were moving the court to determine the validity of the jail trial process and not to assess the place of trial.

“There were no suggestions by the judge in this case, and no one ordered to conduct the jail trial based on security concerns,” said Khosa.

Justice Aurangzeb asked Khosa if the trial had commenced before the reference was filed against Imran. To which, the PTI counsel stated that the trial was started before the reference was filed, questioning how the federal government was aware of filling a reference if the notification was issued after the start of the jail trial.

Khosa also highlighted that the appointment of the accountability court judge was also invalid.

He further informed the court that the PTI founder has even challenged the judge’s appointment, stating that the judge was appointed on deputation with his retirement just around the corner.

The judge is holding the trials daily, just to wrap up the case at the earliest, said Khosa.

Justice Aurangzeb questioned “If there is an accountability court in Islamabad, then the rest of the work is affected? Are the judges going to jail? Are the judges of the accountability court doing any other judicial work? Is that the only thing they do?”.

Khosa said Justice Gulzar Ahmed had been informed about three accountability courts in Islamabad. To which Justice Aurangzeb stated that the then PTI-led government had not approved the appointment of judges in the accountability court.

Only Imran’s cases are being heard with such speed, while other cases are still pending in the accountability courts; said Khosa.

Khosa argued that the NAB was busy in hearing the cases daily with more witnesses expected to have their statements recorded in the case tomorrow.

Justice Aurangzeb stated that Toshakhana is a state treasury and the Cabinet secretary is its custodian.

On January 9, an accountability court had indicted Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi in the Toshakhana reference filed against them by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The decision was announced during a hearing in Adiala jail — where the former prime minister is currently incarcerated in the case.

A five-member special prosecution team of the anti-graft watchdog had perused the reference against the duo.

Accountability court Judge Muhammad Bashir had conducted the hearing of Toshakhana and £190 million cases in the prison.