The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday once again adjourned the hearing of a case pertaining to the suspension of a three-year jail term of former premier Imran Khan — currently incarcerated in Attock Jail — in the Toshakhana case.
Today, Advocate Amjad Pervaiz, the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP’s) lawyer, was expected to conclude his arguments. However, he failed to appear due to being “extremely unwell” — as stated by a member of his team — following which the IHC adjourned the hearing till August 28 (Monday).
On August 5, a trial court in Islamabad convicted the PTI chief in the case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that involved concealing details of state gifts and jailed him for three years. The verdict meant he was disqualified from contesting general elections for five years.
Imran had subsequently filed an appeal in the high court against his conviction. He had also approached the apex court against the IHC’s decision to remand the case back to the trial court judge who had convicted him.
A day ago, Imran’s counsel Latif Khosa had argued before an IHC division bench, focusing on three aspects: the release of Imran owing to a short sentence, jurisdictional defects and improper authorisation by the ECP. Subsequently, Khosa, Salman Akram Raja and Barrister Ali Gohar completed their arguments from Imran’s side.