Pakistan: Local court upholds maintainability of Toshakhana case

Islamabad [Pakistan], July 8 (ANI): A local court in Pakistan on Saturday upheld the maintainability of the Toshakhana case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, Geo News reported.
Geo News is a Pakistani news channel.
The reserved verdict was announced by Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ), Islamabad, Humayun Dilawar with the hearing set to take place on July 12. The witnesses have also been summoned on the same day.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had, on October 21 last year, disqualified the former prime minister in the Toshakhana reference under Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution for making "false statements and incorrect declaration".
A trial court then, in May this year, rejected Khan's petition, challenging the maintainability of the reference. The court also indicted the PTI chief who denied all the allegations levelled against him.
Khan then challenged the trial court's decision before the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which sent the case back to the trial court for re-examination within a span of seven days, as per Geo News.
Khan has not appeared before the court for the hearings that have taken place after the IHC's orders despite Judge Dilawar's repeated summons.
The lawyer of the election commission in today's hearing said the PTI chief has been seeking exemptions from hearing and using "delaying" tactics.
"His arguments have already been presented by his legal counsel," the lawyer contested. The judge noted that the IHC has granted such a "big relief" to the PTI chief.
At this, the former prime minister's lawyer Gohar Khan said the high court did not provide relief; instead, it sent the matter back to the trial court for re-examination. "And I don't agree with this."
The lawyer further added that there was still time, and the court should give its decision in due time. The judge then rejected the plea to adjourn the hearing till Monday, as per Geo News.
Talking to journalists after the hearing, Gohar said he was upset with the decision and called it the "murder of justice".
The matter pertains to the allegations that Imran Khan had "deliberately concealed" details of the gifts he retained from the Toshaskhana -- a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept -- during his time as the prime minister and proceeds from their reported sales.
Imran has faced a number of legal issues over his retention of gifts. The issue also led to his disqualification by the Election Commission of Pakistan. (ANI)